911 - 920 of 1,739 Results

  • Implications of Reduced Federal Medicaid Funds: How Could States Fill the Funding Gap?

    Issue Brief

    In this analysis, we present three scenarios of reductions in federal Medicaid spending and examine fiscal implications if states fill these financing gaps to maintain their programs and if all reductions are assumed to be in full effect in FFY 2015 (the most recent year for which Medicaid spending data is available). To fill these gaps in financing and maintain current Medicaid programs, we assume states will increase state spending for Medicaid by increasing state taxes or reducing education spending. This analysis is unlike the CBO estimate, which makes projections and accounts for changes in policy, state responses to make changes to Medicaid programs, and reductions in coverage.

  • High-Risk Pools For Uninsurable Individuals

    Issue Brief

    For more than 35 years, many states operated high-risk pool programs to offer non-group health coverage to uninsurable residents. The federal government also operated a temporary high-risk pool program established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to provide coverage to people with pre-existing conditions in advance of when broader insurance market changes took effect in 2014. This issue brief reviews the history of these programs to provide context for some of the potential benefits and challenges of a high-risk pool.

  • Views of Governors and Insurance Commissioners on ACA Repeal and Changes to Medicaid: Responses to a Congressional Request for State Input on Health Reform

    Issue Brief

    This brief summarizes responses from governors and insurance commissioners in 35 states, including DC, to a request from members in the House of Representatives for state input on health care reforms. These responses provide insight into state leaders’ views on repeal and replacement of the ACA and the changes Congress is considering making to the financing and structure of Medicaid. It finds that respondents have mixed views on the ACA and potential repeal and replacement of the ACA; most respondents expressed cautions or concerns about repeal, which are shared among both Republicans and Democrats and those who oppose and support appeal; more respondents expressed concerns about capped Medicaid financing than indicated support, and those that expressed support included significant caveats; less than half of respondents, mostly Republican, cited interest in increased state Medicaid flexibility; over half of respondents supported returning authority to states to regulate insurance markets; and few respondents expressed interest in allowing the sale of insurance across state lines, HSAs, or high risk pools.

  • Medicaid’s Role for Medicare Beneficiaries

    Issue Brief

    This brief outlines Medicaid's role for Medicare beneficiaries. It describes the role that Medicaid plays for 10 million Medicare beneficiaries to help inform upcoming debates about proposals to restructure Medicaid financing in ways that could reduce federal funding.

  • Medicare Advantage Plan Switching: Exception or Norm?

    Issue Brief

    The Medicare open enrollment period allows enrollees to compare plans, stick with their current plan, switch to another plan, or shift to traditional Medicare. This analysis examines the extent to which Medicare Advantage enrollees change plans when given the opportunity. It also analyzes the variation in the rate of plan switching by enrollee and plan characteristics and whether people who voluntarily switch plans tend to move to plans with lower premiums, lower out-of-pocket limits, or higher quality ratings.

  • Medicaid’s Most Costly Outpatient Drugs

    Issue Brief

    Using Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data, this brief presents the 50 most costly drugs before rebates used by the Medicaid program over the January 2014 through June 2015 period. It then examines reasons why these drugs are so costly; explores case studies on opioids, hepatitis C drugs, and the drug Abilify; and considers policy implications.

  • Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost Sharing Policies as of January 2017: Findings from a 50-State Survey

    Report

    This 15th annual 50-state survey provides data on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility, enrollment, renewal and cost sharing policies as of January 2017, and identifies changes in these policies in the past year. As discussion of repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), broader changes to Medicaid, and reauthorization of CHIP unfolds, this report documents the role Medicaid and CHIP play for low-income children and families and the evolution of these programs under the ACA. The findings offer an in-depth profile of eligibility, enrollment, renewal, and cost sharing policies in each state as of January 2017, providing a baseline against which future policy changes may be measured.

  • Medicaid Managed Care and the Provision of Family Planning Services

    Report

    Three quarters of reproductive age women on Medicaid are enrolled in managed care arrangements. This analysis explores the experiences and perspectives of leaders of Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) in structuring their networks and services to provide family planning and reproductive health services to women. It finds that MCOs rely heavily on safety net clinics including Community Health Centers and Family Planning Clinics such as Planned Parenthood to provide in-network family planning services to their members. MCO leaders also identified churning in enrollment, the high costs of stocking IUDs and implants, global hospital payment methodologies for maternity care, and the inclusion of faith-based providers in plan networks as potential barriers to certain family planning services.

  • Campaign 2016: Voters Give Clinton Wide Edge Over Trump on Trust to Handle Health Care Issues; ACA Ranks Lower Among Health Issues Voters Want Discussed

    News Release

    Electronic Medical Records: Eight in 10 Americans Say It Is Important for Providers to Computerize Records, But Half Worry About Unauthorized Access to Online Information With the 2016 elections just 10 weeks away, voters give Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton a substantial advantage over Republican nominee Donald Trump on a wide array of health care…