About Waivers
The Bush Administration is encouraging states to use the Section 1115 waiver process to make changes in their Medicaid and SCHIP programs. Some of these changes will jeopardize access to vital health care services for America's most vulnerable people. This Web page is designed to help you keep track of what's going on in your state and in other states around the country. The information has been produced by Families USA and by other national and state advocacy groups.
Note to advocates: Don't worry about trying to figure out whether a waiver is a "HIFA" or a Section 1115 waiver—the differences don't really matter when trying to analyze whether a waiver is "good" or "bad."
Also, many states abandoned their plans to implement Medicaid waivers when the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) was signed into law in February 2006. The DRA allows states to make changes that previously required a waiver through a simpler mechanism, state plan amendments. So far, CMS has approved DRA-related state plan amendments for seven states: Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. Information about these states’ state plan amendments can be found here. |
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