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This paper describes the nature of employer coverage; its decline, especially among low-wage workers and low-income families; and the factors that are undermining its reach. Issue Paper Issue Paper
This brief, the second in a series, examines the requirements that states must meet to be eligible for the new "performance bonus" available to states that do an especially good job of signing up eligible children for Medicaid. The bonus, created by a provision in the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, is designed to help states cover the added costs that result when states are very successful in enrolling eligible children in…
Premium assistance programs use federal and state Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funds to purchase private coverage. Overall, few states have premium assistance programs, but interest in premium assistance remains high. This brief examines six state premium assistance programs (in Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Oregon, Utah, and Virginia) that allow families to choose to receive a subsidy to apply to the purchase of private coverage rather than to receive direct Medicaid or SCHIP…
New 50-State Survey Finds Some States Make Targeted Expansions to Strengthen Coverage and Achieve Efficiencies as They Prepare for Health Reform WASHINGTON -- Despite tight budgets, nearly all states maintained or made targeted expansions or improvements in their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) eligibility and enrollment rules in 2010, preserving the programs’ ability to provide coverage to millions of low-income Americans who otherwise lack affordable options, according to a new survey released today…
Maintaining and expanding health coverage for children and parents will likely be in the forefront of health care policy debates in Washington and state capitols in 2007. With states generally in better financial shape since the fiscal crisis earlier in the decade, many have expressed interest in improving access to their Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP). A new 50-state survey shows that one-third of states (17) increased access to health coverage in…
This issue brief examines health insurance coverage for low-income citizen children whose parents are not citizens and some of the specific barriers to enrolling these children in Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. It is based on findings from the Kaiser Survey of Children's Health Coverage, a telephone survey of parents conducted in 2007 to learn more about children’s access to coverage and care and the health care cost-related pressures facing their families.…
This report from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) illustrates the financial struggles of many families in the United States and shows the central role of health care costs and coverage in a household's economic stability. The report, , is based on interviews with 27 families from six cities across the U.S.. It finds pervasive uncertainty over job security and households teetering on the financial brink, stretching to pay for…
States' Role in Administering the New Part D Low-Income Subsidy Program: A Conference Call Discussion The Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) created a major new subsidy program for an estimated 14 million low-income Medicare beneficiaries that will provide assistance with their cost-sharing obligations under the Part D drug benefit. The MMA requires state Medicaid agencies, along with the Social Security Administration (SSA), to accept applications for the new low-income subsidy. MMA also specifies that people who…
Missouri's 2005 Medicaid Cuts: How Did They Affect Enrollees and Providers? This study, prepared for the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, examines the result of sweeping cutbacks that Missouri instituted in its Medicaid program in 2005 in response to state budget shortfalls. Researchers at the Urban Institute found that the number of uninsured people in the state increased, hospitals faced greater demand for uncompensated care and community health centers confronted revenue…
This report and video from the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) illustrate the financial struggles of many families in the United States and show the central role of health care costs and coverage in a household's economic stability. The report, Snapshots from the Kitchen Table: Family Budgets and Health Care, is based on interviews with 27 families from six cities across the U.S.. It finds pervasive uncertainty over job security…
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