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|

Off-Again, On-Again Public Charge Rule is Off Again

A federal rule that would have limited immigration to the U.S. for people who might at some point become dependent on public aid programs has been put on hold again by a federal judge. Implementation of the rule, delayed by several courts and then authorized by the U.S. Supreme Court until the merits of challenges could be heard, was delayed again by a federal court, which said the rule contained “numerous unexplained flaws” that made it “arbitrary and capricious.” Health care advocates feared the rule would discourage some immigrants to whom the rule does not even apply from seeking to [...]

iqtsupport2020-11-03T08:26:59-05:00November 3, 2020|Medicaid|

States Expect Medicaid Enrollment, Spending to Rise in FY 2021

States expect to see their Medicaid enrollment and spending rise in FY 2021, driven by increases in unemployment resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and maintenance-of-effort requirements in legislation enacted earlier this year. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey of state Medicaid directors found that those officials expect their Medicaid enrollment to rise 8.2 percent in FY 2021 and their Medicaid spending to increase 8.4 percent that same year. Most states expect the 6.2 percentage point increase in federal Medicaid matching funds that was included in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, passed this March, to expire at the end of 2020. [...]

iqtsupport2020-10-21T06:00:12-04:00October 21, 2020|Medicaid|

Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment Rising in Pandemic

Medicaid enrollment rose 6.2 percent and CHIP enrollment 0.5 percent during the first four months of the COVID-19 public health emergency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports. The enrollment increase can be traced to rising unemployment, with many people losing their employer-sponsored health insurance. The new figures cover five months, from February through June, the latter four of which marked the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The information comes from CMS’s first monthly “Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment Trends Snapshot.” Go here for CMS’s news release explaining its new initiative and here to see the trends snapshot itself.

iqtsupport2020-10-06T06:00:36-04:00October 6, 2020|Medicaid|

Payer Mix to Change, Providers Anticipate

Health care providers expect to serve higher proportions of Medicaid and uninsured patients in the coming year, according to a new survey. The shift will be driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, which as unemployment remains high is leading to fewer patients with commercial insurance and more with Medicaid or no insurance all, according to provider financial executives. Learn more about the reimbursement changes health care providers expect to see over the next twelve months in the Healthcare Dive article “Provider finance execs bracing for unfavorable shift in payer mix, survey finds.”

iqtsupport2020-10-05T06:00:36-04:00October 5, 2020|Medicaid|

Public Charge Rule Takes Effect

The “public charge rule” that the administration introduced in 2019, only to have it challenged in the courts, is now being enforced by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services after a federal court lifted an injunction on its implementation. The rule authorizes USCIS to deny a green card to any immigrant who receives certain public benefits – such as food stamps, public housing vouchers, welfare, or Medicaid – for more than 12 months within any three-year period. The expressed purpose of the rule is to deny green cards to individuals who may become dependent on publicly funded services – a [...]

iqtsupport2020-09-29T06:00:27-04:00September 29, 2020|Medicaid|

Coronavirus Update for Wednesday, September 23

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from the federal government as 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23. Continuing Resolution to Fund the Federal Government The House has passed, and the Senate is expected to take up and pass as soon as this week, a continuing resolution to fund the federal government from the beginning of the new fiscal year, on October 1, through December 11; the president is expected to sign the measure. Key health care provisions in this continuing resolution include: Changes in the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Program that extend the period before repayment begins and [...]

iqtsupport2020-09-24T13:31:41-04:00September 24, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medicaid, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH|

MFAR is Dead

At least for now. The controversial Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation, slated for implementation this fall over the objections of many health care stakeholders, will not move forward at this time. In a tweet earlier this week, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma wrote that We've listened closely to concerns that have been raised by our state and provider partners about potential unintended consequences of the proposed rule, which require further study. Therefore, CMS is withdrawing the rule from the regulatory agenda. If implemented, opponents maintained, the regulation would have: Deprived states of important, established policy-making prerogatives. Created [...]

iqtsupport2020-09-16T06:00:25-04:00September 16, 2020|Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

Medicaid Enrollment on the Rise

More people are enrolling in Medicaid, and much of the increase is driven by the COVID-19 emergency. Or so reports the organization Families USA in a new study. According to the study, Over half of the 38 states reporting monthly enrollment through May or later have seen greater than 7% growth in enrollment since February. For the eight states reporting August enrollment, their average enrollment growth since February is approximately 11%. But the implications are even greater, according to the analysis, which found that in large part because of COVID-19 job loss, Medicaid enrollment among the 38 states reporting has [...]

iqtsupport2020-09-15T06:00:57-04:00September 15, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medicaid|