Filter

291 - 300 of 371 Results

  • Aligning Eligibility for Children: Moving the Stairstep Kids to Medicaid

    Issue Brief

    The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that Medicaid cover children with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) ($31,322 for a family of four in 2013) as of January 2014. Today, there are “stairstep” eligibility rules for children. States must cover children under the age of six in families with income of at least 133 percent of the FPL in Medicaid while older children and teens with incomes above 100 percent of the FPL may be covered in separate state Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) or Medicaid at state option. While many states already cover children in Medicaid with income up to 133 percent FPL, due to the change in law, 21 states needed to transition some children from CHIP to Medicaid. This brief examines how the transition of children from CHIP to Medicaid will affect children and families as well as states. The brief also looks to New York and Colorado for lessons learned from the early transition of coverage.

  • Current Flexibility in Medicaid: An Overview of Federal Standards and State Options

    Issue Brief

    The Trump Administration and new Congress have indicated that they will seek to cap Medicaid financing through a block grant or per capita cap, reduce federal funding for the program, and offer states increased flexibility to manage their programs within this more limited financing structure. The size of the federal reductions as well as which federal program standards would remain in place and what increased flexibility might be provided to states under such proposals would have significant implications. To help inform discussion around increased flexibility, this brief provides an overview of current federal standards and state options in Medicaid and how states have responded to these options in four key areas: eligibility, benefits, premiums and cost sharing, and provider payments and delivery systems.

  • Key Issues in Children’s Health Coverage

    Issue Brief

    This brief reviews children’s coverage today and examines what is at stake for children’s coverage in upcoming debates around CHIP funding, repeal and replacement of the ACA, and Medicaid restructuring.

  • The Last Major Phase of the COVID-19 Vaccination Roll-out: Children Under 5

    Issue Brief

    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.

  • KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: September 2022

    Poll Finding

    Our latest Vaccine Monitor survey finds that half of the public has heard either “a lot” or “some” about the newly-available bivalent COVID-19 boosters, and a third (32%) say they’ve already gotten it or intend to do so “as soon as possible.” It also updates parents’ vaccine intentions for their children, including those under 5.

  • Medicaid Enrollment Churn and Implications for Continuous Coverage Policies

    Issue Brief

    Recent policy actions and proposals in Medicaid have renewed focus on the problem of churn, or temporary loss of coverage in which enrollees disenroll and then re-enroll within a short period of time. We find that 10% of full-benefit enrollees have a gap in coverage of less than a year, and rates are higher for children and adults compared to aged and people with disabilities. Churn has implications for access to care as well as administrative costs faced by states.