Medicaid

ACA Medicaid Expansion Cut Young Adult Uninsurance in Half

The number of uninsured young adults fell nearly 50 percent after the Affordable Care Act authorized states to expand their Medicaid programs, a new study has found. According to the Urban Institute, the uninsured rate among people between the ages of 19 and 25 fell from 30.2 percent to 16 percent between 2011 and 2018, with most of the decline coming between 2013 and 2016, when the first round of states expanded their Medicaid programs. The decline in the rate of uninsured young adults mirrored declines in the overall U.S. uninsured rate, which fell from 27.7 percent to 11.3 percent [...]

iqtsupport2021-02-25T13:00:37-05:00February 25, 2021|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

GAO Looks at “Medicaid in Times of Crisis”

The federal government often turns to Medicaid to address problems, mitigate damage, and serve vulnerable populations, especially in times of crisis. In a new issue brief, the U.S. Government Accountability Office looks at examples of how states and the federal government have turned to Medicaid in times of crisis and some of the policy considerations underlying those actions. Find these examples in the new GAO report “Medicaid in Times of Crisis.”

iqtsupport2021-02-24T13:00:53-05:00February 24, 2021|Medicaid|

Administration Continues Dismantling Medicaid Work Requirements

A week after announcing that it was withdrawing permission for states to implement approved Medicaid work requirements and would no longer entertain applications to introduce such programs, the Biden administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to cancel arguments next month on the legality of such requirements. As reported in SCOTUSblog, That argument is no longer necessary, Biden’s acting solicitor general, Elizabeth Prelogar, told the justices in a seven-page motion on Monday. The Biden administration has “preliminarily determined” that work requirements do not serve Medicaid’s goals, Prelogar wrote. Arkansas, one of the two states involved in the case, maintains that [...]

iqtsupport2021-02-24T06:00:14-05:00February 24, 2021|Medicaid|

Administration to Review Public Charge Rule

President Biden has ordered a review of the federal public charge rule. The controversial rule, which would limit immigration to the U.S. for people who might at some point become dependent on public aid programs, has been the subject of litigation since it was proposed in 2019. The White House executive order directs …the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the heads of other relevant agencies, as appropriate…[to] review all agency actions related to implementation of the public charge ground of inadmissibility… The officials were ordered to report their findings to the president within 60 [...]

iqtsupport2021-02-05T06:00:20-05:00February 5, 2021|Medicaid, Medicaid regulations, Medicare regulations|

MACPAC Meets

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met for two days last week in Washington, D.C. The following is MACPAC’s own summary of the sessions. MACPAC kicked off its January meeting with a review of a draft chapter for the March 2021 report to Congress and recommendations on a mandatory extension of Medicaid coverage for 12 months postpartum. The Commission received extensive public comment on the recommendations. On Friday, the Commission approved three recommendations as drafted related to postpartum coverage. The Commission recommended that Congress should: extend the postpartum coverage period for individuals who were eligible and enrolled in [...]

iqtsupport2021-02-03T06:00:34-05:00February 3, 2021|Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicaid and housing for the disabled, Medicaid long-term services and supports, Medicaid regulations for the disabled|

Coronavirus Update for Friday, January 29

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Friday, January 29. The Biden Administration The Biden administration has issued an “Executive Order on Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act” to make it easier for the uninsured to get coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic. The order: reopens access to the federal Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace for three months, from February 15 through May 15, and restores some of the Affordable Care Act exchange marketing funds that had been eliminated by the previous administration and calls for the review of all [...]

iqtsupport2021-02-01T06:00:16-05:00February 1, 2021|Affordable Care Act, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medicaid|

Feds Give States Direction for Addressing Social Determinants of Health

Federal laws, regulations, and programs offer numerous tools to states seeking to address social determinants of health through their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Now, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has written to state Medicaid directors outlining those tools. In the 51-page letter, CMS notes that Many Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries may face challenges related to SDOH [social determinants of health], including but not limited to access to nutritious food, affordable and accessible housing, convenient and efficient transportation, safe neighborhoods, strong social connections, quality education, and opportunities for meaningful employment. There is a growing body of evidence [...]

iqtsupport2021-01-15T06:00:58-05:00January 15, 2021|Medicaid|

GAO: CMS Should Pay More Attention to States’ Financing of Medicaid

The federal government does not adequately monitor how states finance their Medicaid programs. It also lacks a sufficiently clear understanding of how they pay providers of Medicaid-covered services. These are among the conclusions in a new study on Medicaid financing and payments by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. According to the GAO report, GAO estimated that states’ reliance on provider taxes and local government funds decreased states’ share of net Medicaid payments (total state and federal payments) and effectively increased the federal share of net Medicaid payments by 5 percentage points in state fiscal year 2018. It also resulted in [...]

iqtsupport2020-12-14T06:00:57-05:00December 14, 2020|Medicaid|

Recession Taking its Toll on States

State Medicaid programs are feeling the effects of the current recession, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service. According to the brief report, state Medicaid enrollment and costs have risen since the COVID-19 pandemic began and states expect them to continue rising into their 2021 fiscal years. State efforts to reduce spending are limited by provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which provided additional federal Medicaid matching funds to the states to assist them with their Medicaid costs during the COVID-19 pandemic but impose maintenance-of-effort requirements in exchange for continued state access to the enhanced [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-17T06:00:33-05:00November 17, 2020|Congress, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medicaid|

MACPAC Meets

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met for two days last week in Washington, D.C. The following is MACPAC’s own summary of the sessions. The October 2020 MACPAC meeting opened with a panel discussion on restarting Medicaid eligibility redeterminations when the public health emergency ends. It included Jennifer Wagner, director of Medicaid eligibility and enrollment at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; René Mollow, deputy director for health care benefits and eligibility at the California Department of Health Care Services; and Lee Guice, director of policy and operations at the Department for Medicaid Services, Kentucky Cabinet for [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-05T06:00:25-05:00November 5, 2020|MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid DSH allotments, Medicaid regulations|