Administration Ramps Up Scrutiny of Immigrants’ Use of Public Benefits
Immigrants’ sponsors could be more likely to be held financially responsible for the cost of public benefits those immigrants receive under a new memorandum issued by the White House. The requirement itself is not new; the purpose of the memorandum [...]
Medicaid Expansion Helps Pregnant Women and Their Babies
An intuitive assumption now has evidence to support it: Medicaid expansion has improved the health of pregnant women and their babies. According to a new study from the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families, …states that [...]
Proposed Immigration Rule Discouraging Medicaid Enrollment
A proposal by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is discouraging participation in Medicaid and other government safety-net programs. A proposed Homeland Security regulation would establish new criteria for determining whether individuals seeking admission into the U.S. might eventually become [...]
Medicaid Waiver Process Often Lacks Transparency, GAO Finds
States’ applications for federal Medicaid waivers often lack transparency, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. According to the GAO, the chief problem with the transparency of state applications for Medicaid waivers arises when states either [...]
Medicaid DSH Delay Wins Bipartisan Support
More than 300 members of the U.S. House have joined a letter to House leadership urging a delay in Affordable Care Act-mandated cuts in Medicaid disproportionate share payments (Medicaid DSH). The bipartisan letter notes that hospitals that receive Medicaid DSH [...]
More Medicaid Matching Funds for Only Partial Medicaid Expansion?
The federal government is considering providing an unusual amount of federal Medicaid matching funding for only partial state Medicaid expansion. At least that’s what Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma told a health care conference in Georgia [...]
Tackling Social Determinants of Health
Two states are working to address social determinants of health through their Medicaid programs. In California and Oregon, the state Medicaid programs are using care coordination and funding from multiple sources, including traditional Medicaid funding, alternative payment approaches, and savings [...]
CMS Speeds Up Medicaid Review Process
The federal government has greatly increased the speed with which it is reviewing and approving state applications to modify their Medicaid programs. Most often, such applications involve Medicaid state plan amendments and section 1915 waiver requests. According to a recent [...]
New Poverty Level Standards to Jeopardize Medicaid Eligibility?
The Trump administration is considering changing how the federal government measures inflation for the purpose of calculating the federal poverty level. Such a change, if implemented, could potentially reduce inflation-related increases in the federal poverty level, which in turn could [...]
MACPAC Seeks Input on IMDs
A 2018 law calls for the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission to report to Congress on institutions for mental diseases, or IMDs, receiving Medicaid payments. The law specifies that MACPAC solicit input from a variety of sources, including [...]
