Medicaid Block Grants: Questions State Leaders Should Ask

CMS Administrator Seema Verma, the top federal Medicaid official, has been encouraging states to be the first on the block to block grant their Medicaid programs.  Some states are beginning to respond. Late last month Tennessee’s Governor Bill Lee signed legislation directing him to submit a proposal for a Medicaid block grant to the federal […]

Nebraska Residents Will Have to Wait for Medicaid Expansion While Governor Puts More Obstacles in Path to Coverage

Writer George Orwell would love the Nebraska Governor’s complex plan to implement the simple expansion of Medicaid health coverage passed by Nebraska voters in 2018 that would help an estimated 95,000 of the state’s residents gain coverage. In Orwell’s book “1984”, the fictional state of Oceania asked citizens to accept opposing ideas as both being […]

Child Health Providers and Advocates Ask HHS Secretary to Reject Work Requirements for Low-Income Parents

Today Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families joined over 50 other national health care provider, research and consumer groups focused on children and families to send a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar raising concerns about the harm of work requirements for children and families, particularly in states that have not expanded Medicaid. The […]

Lack of ACA Navigator Funding Leads to Consumer Confusion, Decreased Enrollment

Open Enrollment is over in most states, and enrollment numbers are down slightlyfrom 8.8 million plan selections on healthcare.gov for plan year 2018 to 8.4 million plan selections for plan year 2019. Navigators thought the 2018 Open Enrollment was challenging, after a slew of policy changes including massive Navigator grant funding cuts, shortened enrollment period, 90 percent cuts to federal […]