Affordable Care Act

If ACA Funding for Medicaid Expansion Were to be Cut…

When Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act in 2010 it offered states a powerful incentive to expand their criteria for Medicaid eligibility: money to pay for most of that expansion. Under that law, the federal government pays 90 percent of the cost of providing Medicaid-covered services to individuals who became eligible for the program under the expanded criteria. So far, 41 states and the District of Columbia have taken advantage of this enhanced funding and 11 million additional people have enrolled in the Medicaid program as a result. But what would happen if that enhanced federal Medical Assistance percentage – [...]

joe2025-03-13T17:26:22-04:00March 17, 2025|Affordable Care Act, hospitals, Medicaid, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH|

The Implications of Eliminating the ACA Medicaid Expansion Matching Rate

When the Affordable Care Act was adopted in 2010 it offered a powerful incentive for states to expand their Medicaid program: the federal government would pick up 90 percent of the cost of covering each state’s expansion population. Over the years, 40 of the 50 states have taken advantage of these terms to expand their Medicaid programs, resulting in a significant increase in both Medicaid enrollment and how much the federal government spends on Medicaid. Now, policymakers are considering ending that incentive, leaving the 40 states with a difficult choice: to pick up the additional cost themselves or reverse their [...]

joe2025-02-13T17:13:28-05:00February 18, 2025|Affordable Care Act, Congress, Medicaid|

Medicaid Expansion in Jeopardy?

The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion resulted in 40 of the 50 states (and the District of Columbia) expanding their Medicaid programs because of the health reform law’s promise of additional federal funding to help pay for care for the expansion population. But now, with Congress and the new administration contemplating spending cuts that may include reductions in the federal financial commitment to Medicaid, a number of states may soon reverse those Medicaid expansions. Expansion repeal efforts are already underway in Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota. Nine states – Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah, and [...]

joe2025-02-11T16:11:32-05:00February 12, 2025|Affordable Care Act, Congress, Medicaid|

Congress Spares Medicaid DSH Cut – for Now

An oft-delayed cut in Medicaid disproportionate share allotments to states was delayed once again in the latest temporary spending bill passed by Congress last week. The stopgap spending bill, which runs until March 8, delays an $8 billion a year cut in Medicaid DSH payments that was part of the Affordable Care Act and has been put off by Congress on numerous occasions ever since. The reduction was envisioned as an appropriate move in anticipation of a significant increase in uninsured Americans after the 2010 reform law’s passage. While that increase has occurred, many hospitals continue to care for significant [...]

joe2024-01-23T19:58:33-05:00January 23, 2024|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid DSH allotments|

Hospitals Seek Delay in Medicaid DSH Cuts

“Delay upcoming cuts in Medicaid DSH payments” is the message hospitals delivered to Congress recently in response to a reduction of $8 billion in Medicaid disproportionate share cuts scheduled to take effect on October 1. The cuts, mandated by the Affordable Care Act, have been delayed by Congress on several occasions over the years in response to the belief that far more people remain uninsured than was anticipated when the 2010 health care reform law was adopted. According to proponents of the delay, the safety-net hospitals that receive Medicaid DSH payments continue to provide free care to significant numbers of [...]

iqtsupport2023-03-09T06:00:35-05:00March 9, 2023|hospitals, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH|

Health Insurance Markets Remain Highly Concentrated

The health insurance market was highly concentrated in 42 of the 50 states in 2019 and 2020 – the continuation of a trend identified in 2010 that has persisted ever since, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The GAO considers a market concentrated if three or fewer insurers in a state have 80 percent of that market. Using Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services health insurance enrollment data, the GAO looked at three distinct aspects of markets – individual policies, small group policies, and large group coverage – and found that Each of the three [...]

iqtsupport2022-11-10T06:00:51-05:00November 10, 2022|Affordable Care Act, Uncategorized|

Federal Health Policy Update for Monday, June 21

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:15 p.m. on Monday, June 21. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Supreme Court Decision in Affordable Care Act Challenge The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act in the California v. Texas case by a 7-2 vote in which the court concluded that the plaintiffs did not have standing to pursue the matter because they were not directly harmed. See the court’s opinion here. White House The White House has posted a transcript of the June [...]

iqtsupport2021-06-21T21:31:34-04:00June 21, 2021|Affordable Care Act, Coronavirus, COVID-19|

Feds Rescind Texas Medicaid Waiver

A federal Medicaid waiver approved for the state of Texas in the waning days of the Trump administration has been rescinded by the Biden administration. The waiver called for spending as much as $100 billion for health care for low-income Texans over the next ten years. Officially, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services revoked the waiver on technical grounds, maintaining that the agency “… erred in exempting the state from the normal public notice process – a critical priority for soliciting stakeholder feedback and ensuring public awareness.” The Washington Post, however, reports that according to two unnamed federal health [...]

iqtsupport2021-04-22T06:00:32-04:00April 22, 2021|Affordable Care Act, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 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|

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|