Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Proposed Immigration Rule Discourages Medicaid Enrollment
A proposal by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is discouraging participation in Medicaid and other government safety-net programs. A proposed Homeland Security regulation would establish new criteria for determining whether individuals seeking admission into the U.S. might eventually become “public charges”: people who would depend on public resources to meet their needs rather than the resources of friends, family, sponsors, or private organizations or be able to provide for themselves or their families. Among those criteria are past use of government aid programs and current income and health status. [...]
Medicaid Waiver Process Often Lacks Transparency, GAO Finds
States’ applications for federal Medicaid waivers often lack transparency, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. According to the GAO, the chief problem with the transparency of state applications for Medicaid waivers arises when states either seek to amend waivers they have already obtained or amend waiver applications currently under review by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Too often, the GAO found, states neither subject such amendments to public review and comment nor adequately explain to stakeholders the implications of the amendments they are [...]
More Medicaid Matching Funds for Only Partial Medicaid Expansion?
The federal government is considering providing an unusual amount of federal Medicaid matching funding for only partial state Medicaid expansion. At least that’s what Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma told a health care conference in Georgia last week. The state of Georgia has proposes partially expanding its Medicaid population. Under the Affordable Care Act, states that fully expand their Medicaid programs under the terms established by the 2010 health care law receive nine dollars in federal matching funds for every one dollar they spend on their [...]
CMS Speeds Up Medicaid Review Process
The federal government has greatly increased the speed with which it is reviewing and approving state applications to modify their Medicaid programs. Most often, such applications involve Medicaid state plan amendments and section 1915 waiver requests. According to a recent post on the CMS blog (in CMS’s own words), Between calendar years 2016 and 2018, there was a 16 percent decrease in the median approval time for Medicaid SPAs [note: state plan amendments]. Seventy-eight percent of SPAs were approved within the first 90 day review period during calendar year 2018, [...]
New Poverty Level Standards to Jeopardize Medicaid Eligibility?
The Trump administration is considering changing how the federal government measures inflation for the purpose of calculating the federal poverty level. Such a change, if implemented, could potentially reduce inflation-related increases in the federal poverty level, which in turn could limit the ability of some individuals and families to qualify, or continue to qualify, for a variety of public safety-net services – including, potentially, Medicaid. Among the possible alternatives to the current methodology for calculating inflation is the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. The Obama administration also [...]