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The unwinding of the continuous enrollment provision will play out differently across the states based on policy choices states have made and variation in their administrative infrastructures. Some states have adopted multiple policies that are more likely to promote continued coverage among those who remain eligible.
Immigration Status and Fears Pose Challenges to Further Expanding Coverage Among Hispanics Affordability Key Obstacle to Enrollment for Those Who Remain Uninsured MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Nearly six in 10 (58%) previously uninsured Californians report getting health insurance since last summer, finds the second wave of the Kaiser Family Foundation's Longitudinal Panel Survey following the experiences of a randomly selected panel of uninsured Californians under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Based on official estimates of…
The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) provides states new options to reach and enroll the estimated 5 million eligible but uninsured low-income children into Medicaid and CHIP. One key tool provided to states by the law is Express Lane Eligibility (ELE), which allows state Medicaid and CHIP agencies to borrow and rely on eligibility findings from other need-based programs, such as Head Start and the National School Lunch Program, to determine…
In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman explains why 2015 enrollment in the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces is very hard to predict.
The health reform law creates a national plan for near-universal health coverage that relies on a large expansion of Medicaid eligibility as its foundation. This brief draws on recent interviews with Medicaid program directors and other experts about the opportunities that health reform presents to optimize Medicaid by strengthening its enrollment and renewal operations and recasting it as an affordable health coverage program for working people and families. Executive Summary (.pdf) Issue Brief (.pdf)
Larry Levitt's November 2014 post looks at the challenges with people not understanding basic health insurance concepts as millions of them evaluate and choose health plans during open enrollment season for insurance in 2015.
Drew Altman, in The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, discusses what people don’t realize about the ACA: it is engineered for variation and it is up to Congress and the states to learn from that variation.
The privatization of Medicare has been taking place without much public debate – a trend that has implications for the 68 million people covered by Medicare, health care providers, Medicare spending, and taxpayers. It's not yet clear whether the administration will promote policies to accelerate the privatization of Medicare or focus more on achieving efficiencies and savings within Medicare Advantage, or pursue policies that aim to achieve both. How this plays out will have implications…
Using data from the 23rd KFF survey of officials administering Medicaid home care programs, this issue brief describes the mechanisms states are currently using to limit Medicaid spending on home care and their plans for adopting new mechanisms in state fiscal year (FY) 2026.
This issue brief analyzes the number and variety of Medicare Advantage plan choices available to beneficiaries in 2016. It describes trends in number of Medicare Advantage plans, plan premiums, and plan quality ratings, including changes in prescription drug coverage and limits on out-of-pocket expenses. This spotlight is part of a series of spotlights tracking key changes in the Medicare Advantage program.
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