Medicaid enrollment

Medicaid Enrollment Continues to Rise

Medicaid enrollment in 36 states rose 17.7 percent from February 2020 to March 2021. Leading the way were two Medicaid expansion states, Utah and Nebraska, which saw their Medicaid enrollment increase 37.6 percent and 30.9 percent, respectively.Other states with major increases in Medicaid enrollment were Missouri (26.5 percent), Illinois (26.3 percent), and Indiana (25.7 percent). The increases appear to have been driven by pandemic-related job losses and the accompanying economic downturn. Learn more about where and why Medicaid enrollment is rising from the article “What is Happening With Medicaid Enrollment in Q1 of 2021?” on the web site of the [...]

admin2021-06-08T06:00:02+00:00June 8, 2021|Coronavirus, COVID-19, 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.

admin2020-10-06T06:00:36+00:00October 6, 2020|Medicaid|

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 [...]

admin2020-09-15T06:00:57+00:00September 15, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19, Medicaid|

Interview With Seema Verma

In late December, PBS broadcast an interview with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma. Kaiser Health News has published a transcript of excerpts from that interview during which Verma discusses Medicaid – including enrollment, eligibility, services, and children – Medicare for all, administration attempts to reduce health care costs, protection for people with pre-existing conditions, and more. Read those excerpts in the Kaiser Health News article “One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma."

admin2020-01-07T11:50:05+00:00January 7, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid|

Medicaid Rolls Could Include Too Many People in Some States

Some states appear to have more Medicaid participants than they do individuals who meet the program’s income eligibility requirements. Or so suggests a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research. According to the study, an analysis of nine states that expanded their Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act found 800,000 more Medicaid participants than it did individuals who meet Medicaid’s income eligibility criteria. The study acknowledges that the actual numbers may not be as great because some people qualify for Medicaid based on disabilities and factors other than income. Learn more in the National Bureau of Economic [...]

admin2019-08-19T11:39:18+00:00August 19, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Study Finds Surprise in Sources of Medicaid, CHIP Growth

While enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP has been greatest among low-income families working full-time for small businesses, growth in Medicaid and CHIP among low-income families employed full-time by big businesses has been rising faster in recent years. According to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, Medicaid and CHIP enrollment among low-income families employed full-time by large companies rose from 45 percent to 69 percent between 2008 and 2016. The driving force behind this growing reliance on public insurance appears to be the shift of health insurance costs from companies to employees: employee share of health insurance premiums [...]

admin2019-07-08T14:40:03+00:00July 8, 2019|Medicaid|

Bureaucratic Requirements May Be Driving Medicaid Enrollment Decline

State eligibility redetermination processes may be pushing down Medicaid enrollment nation-wide. Last year, national Medicaid enrollment fell 1.5 million, more than half of them children, and according to a new report from Families USA, much of that decline may be attributable to the challenging eligibility redetermination requirements imposed on Medicaid-eligible individuals by some states. Those requirements include a 98-page packet that Tennessee sends to individuals seeking to retain their Medicaid eligibility; Arkansas’ limit of 10 days to respond to requests for information to redetermine eligibility; and Missouri’s decision to discontinue using data from other public safety-net programs to redetermine eligibility. [...]

admin2019-04-30T06:00:02+00:00April 30, 2019|Medicaid|

CMS Unveils Medicaid “Scorecard”

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had introduced a new “Medicaid scorecard” that the agency says it hopes will “…increase public transparency about the programs’ administration and outcomes.” The scorecard, now posted on the Medicaid web site, presents information and data from the federal government, and reported voluntarily by the states, in three areas: state health system performance, state administrative accountability, and federal administrative accountability. The scorecard currently offers information on selected health and program indicators. Visitors can see comparative data between states and also extensive information about individual state Medicaid programs, including eligibility criteria, enrollment, quality performance, and [...]

admin2018-06-26T06:00:20+00:00June 26, 2018|Medicaid|

Despite Uncertainty, States Plan to Raise Medicaid Rates

Even though events in Washington leave the future of Medicaid unclear, 44 states still intend to raise at least some of their Medicaid rates in 2018. Inpatient payments to hospitals are not among the major targets of the planned rate increases: only 17 states plan to increase Medicaid inpatients payments while the others plan to keep those rates as they are or even reduce them. Learn more about trends in Medicaid enrollment, spending, and rates in the Kaiser Family Foundation’s annual survey of state Medicaid programs, the results of which can be found here.

admin2017-10-26T06:00:12+00:00October 26, 2017|Medicaid|