Medicaid expansion

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|

Federal Health Policy Update for March 14

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for March 8-14. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. The White House The Biden administration this week released its proposed FY 2025 federal budget. Health care highlights include: Making permanent the expanded health care premium tax credits introduced to make health insurance marketplace plans more affordable for middle-class Americans. Extension of coverage similar to Medicaid to residents of the 10 states that have not taken advantage of the Affordable Care Act opportunity to expand their Medicaid programs. Permission for states to extend [...]

joe2024-03-14T20:46:56-04:00March 14, 2024|Affordable Care Act, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Congress, hospitals, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicare, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, Telehealth|

Results of Annual Survey of State Medicaid Programs

The Kaiser Family Foundation has published the results of its annual survey of state Medicaid programs for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years. Among the survey’s findings (in language taken directly from the Kaiser report): More than 3/4 of states that contract with MCOs [managed care organizations] enroll ≥75% of all beneficiaries in MCOs Some states reported newly implementing or expanding MCO programs States also report continued use of other service delivery and payment system reforms Two-thirds of states are using strategies to improve race, ethnicity, and language data About one-quarter of states are tying MCO financial incentives to health [...]

iqtsupport2022-10-27T06:00:07-04:00October 27, 2022|COVID-19, Medicaid, Medicaid long-term services and supports, Medicaid managed care, social determinants of health, Telehealth|

States Prepare to Unravel Pandemic Medicaid Expansion

As the COVID-19 public health emergency once again appears, at least for the moment, to be winding down, state governments are preparing for how to undo the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program expansions mandated by Congress and return to their pre-COVID eligibility criteria for the two major health care safety-net programs. Under the temporary federal expansion of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility during the pandemic’s early days, states received enhanced federal matching funds for those programs in exchange for expanding their eligibility criteria and agreeing not to reconsider enrollees’ eligibility for the duration of the PHE. With the prospect of [...]

iqtsupport2022-03-22T06:00:53-04:00March 22, 2022|COVID-19, Medicaid|

New Health Care Leaders Share Priorities

New leaders at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation are quickly making their priorities known to health care industry stakeholders. For new CMS administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, her priority is coverage. She has declared that “Our focus is going to be on making sure regulations and policies are going to be focused on improving coverage,” and while she hopes that states that have not yet expanded their Medicaid programs will take advantage of current federal incentives to do so, there is another path to coverage: “…the public option or other coverage certainly [...]

iqtsupport2021-06-10T06:00:44-04:00June 10, 2021|Alternative payment models, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid|

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|

Medicaid Changes Coming?

In office only three months, it appears the new administration has its sights set on expanding Medicaid. According to the Washington Post, Medicaid expansion could be in the works in several areas, including: elimination of work requirements Medicaid expansion in more states extended coverage for women who give birth increased funding for home-based care easier enrollment processes increased coverage for recent immigrants and prisoners Learn more about possible Medicaid changes to come in the Washington Post article “Trump tried to shrink Medicaid. Here's how Biden will try to expand it."

iqtsupport2021-04-20T06:00:09-04:00April 20, 2021|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|

ACA May be Improving, Saving Lives

The insurance expansion made possible by the Affordable Care Act may be improving and even saving lives, some studies and anecdotal evidence suggest. While observers warn that it is difficult to attempt to render a final verdict on the reform law’s insurance expansion and its impact, various studies and observations point to encouraging developments. Among them: High blood pressure is being detected at a higher rate now among people who bought insurance as a result of the ACA than it was prior to the law’s passage. Fewer 19-26 year-olds, now permitted to remain on their parents’ health insurance, are choosing [...]

iqtsupport2019-10-02T15:48:44-04:00October 2, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|