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This post examines the potential for this year's midterm elections to decide the fate of Medicaid expansion, with gubernatorial races in 10 of the 12 states that have not expanded, including Georgia, Kansas and Wisconsin, where the gubernatorial race is considered a toss-up. South Dakota voters also will decide a Medicaid expansion ballot initiative.
This policy watch provides an update on the status of state adoption and implementation of the Medicaid 12-month postpartum coverage extension option as states wrap up their 2022 legislative sessions.
Emerging COVID-19 variants, like the Omicron subvariant BA.5 that has recently caused a surge in cases, may pose new risks to children and create challenges for the back-to-school season.
Children may also continue to face challenges due to the ongoing health, economic, and social consequences of the pandemic. This brief examines how the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect children’s physical and mental health, considers what the findings mean for the upcoming back-to-school season, and explores recent policy responses.
Federal policymakers have taken several actions to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic on families and children by providing state fiscal relief, increased nutrition assistance, Medicaid funding, and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); however, some of this assistance has or will expire. This brief examines hardship across three metrics—difficulty paying for normal household expenses, food sufficiency, and uncertainty in paying for rent or mortgage payments for households with children and by income.
Long COVID has been described as our “next national health disaster” and the “pandemic after the pandemic,” but we know little about how many people are affected, how long it will last for those affected, and how it could change employment and health coverage landscapes. This policy watch reviews what we know and outlines key questions to watch for regarding employment and coverage outcomes. We continue to follow the research on who is most at risk of long COVID and whether there are interventions that can reduce its incidence, length, or severity.
This policy watch examines the intersection of Medicaid coverage policies with state actions to ban abortion.
A provision in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 gives states a new option to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage to 12 months via a state plan amendment. This new option took effect on April 1, 2022 and is available to states for five years. Using Medicaid claims data from 2018, this brief examines enrollment patterns in the year following childbirth.
This issue brief describes anticipated enrollment changes in pathways based on old age or disability (“non-MAGI”) after the PHE ends, state enrollment and renewal policies for non-MAGI groups as of January 1, 2022, and state plans for resuming normal operations when the PHE ends.
With the FDA authorization of both Moderna and Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of 6 months and 5, the last major phase of the U.S. vaccination roll-out is underway. This brief provides an overview of the characteristics of children under the age of 5 and discusses some issues to consider in rolling out vaccination to this age group.
In recent weeks, the United States has been grappling with a baby formula shortage following supply chain issues, a voluntary recall, and the closing of a plant that produces a large share of the country’s formula. Since it is recommended that infants receive breast milk or formula until they are age one, this shortage has had a significant impact across the country. Infants in low-income families and infants of color, who are often covered by Medicaid, may be particularly impacted by the shortage resulting in potential short and long-term health risks.
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