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This brief provides and update of the health care and health policy environment in California, discussing the budgetary environment, implementation of the state's "Bridge to Reform" Medicaid waiver, and efforts to prepare for coverage expansions and new coverage options in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act.
This issue brief provides background about Medicaid premium assistance in the individual health insurance market, summarizes major components of Arkansas’ Section 1115 demonstration waiver application to implement the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion through premium assistance, and considers key issues affecting beneficiaries.
This issue brief provides an early snapshot into disability community perspectives on state design and implementation efforts related to the new financial alignment demonstrations for beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, with an emphasis on non-elderly beneficiaries and those who use long-term services and supports.
With the approval of Kentucky’s Medicaid expansion waiver, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has for the first time granted a state permission to make Medicaid eligibility conditional on meeting a work requirement.
Drawing on his experience in state welfare reform, Drew Altman, in his Axios column, discusses how new state Medicaid work requirements differ fundamentally from welfare reform, which was built on the idea of a “reciprocal obligation” between both beneficiaries and government to do more.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) significantly modernized and streamlined Medicaid enrollment and renewal processes across all states. Through major investments of time, money, and staff, most states have implemented modernized systems that transformed lengthy, paperwork driven enrollment and renewal procedures to a simplified, technology-driven experience that minimizes burdens on individuals and states. Recently approved and proposed waivers and other proposed policies include new eligibility and enrollment requirements and restrictions that run counter to the ACA’s streamlined processes (Figure 1). This fact sheet provides an overview of how enrollment and renewal processes changed under the ACA and the implications of emerging waivers and other proposed changes on streamlined enrollment and renewal.
Indiana initially implemented the ACA’s Medicaid expansion through a Section 1115 waiver in February 2015. Indiana’s waiver included important changes from federal law regarding enrollment and premiums. The initial waiver expired, and Indiana received approval for a waiver extension in February, 2018 which continues most components of HIP 2.0 and adds some new provisions related to enrollment and premiums. This brief looks at available data from the state’s evaluation of premiums prepared by The Lewin Group (as well as other reporting to CMS) to highlight what is known about the impact of these policies to date. We review these data to identify potential implications for changes in the recent Indiana renewal and for other states considering similar provisions.
In an Axios column, Drew Altman discusses how, ironically, efforts by red states to move their ACA marketplaces and their Medicaid programs in more conservative directions could end up strengthening the ACA and Medicaid politically over the longer term.
With nearly a dozen states seeking or implementing waivers to add work requirements for some Medicaid beneficiaries, a central question is whether such policies promote health and therefore promote the goals of the Medicaid program.
Karen Pollitz answers three questions on the Trump administration's recent changes to the ACA Section 1332 state innovation waiver guidelines and the implications for consumers and state marketplaces in our new “Ask KFF” feature.
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