Coverage

What CMS Did and Didn’t Approve in Arkansas’ Waiver—Both Tell Us A Lot

On March 5, 2018, CMS approved Arkansas’ request to add a work requirement to its Medicaid program. Equally important, it did not approve the state’s request to roll back Medicaid eligibility to...

Work Requirements in Medicaid Waivers: These Aren’t About Work

CMS has approved work requirements (sometimes spun as “community engagement” requirements) in three states: Arkansas, Kentucky, and Indiana. Eight additional states have similar requests pending, ...

States Making Progress on Rate Review

The Affordable Care Act encourages states to improve their processes for monitoring health insurance premium rate increases. This process is known as “rate review.” The authority each state has ov...

Tax Cuts, Not Health Care Spending, Are Driving Increased Fiscal Deficits

Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a new budget baseline for 2018 to 2028. The baseline report shows a significant increase in projected budget deficits compared to the 2017 baselin...

Helping People with Medicare

The Affordable Care Act will make health care more affordable for seniors and people with disabilities who rely on Medicare. The law will also change how Medicare pays for health care, making the prog...

Helping People with Medicare

Medicaid Must Play a Central Role in Combating Substance Use Disorder

As the largest single source of health insurance and coverage for behavioral health services in the country, Medicaid plays a pivotal role in addressing substance use disorder (SUD). Medicaid covers n...

Medicaid Waivers: Strategies to Address Barriers to Medicaid

On June 12, Families USA held a webinar that highlighted successful tactics and strategies that could be used in states seeking work requirements. Advocates in Colorado and Minnesota discuss how they...

Strategies for Story Banking and Engaging Young Adults

State advocates face the challenge of educating the public about the Affordable Care Act and rallying support for it. Collecting and publicizing consumer stories (known as “story banking”) and eng...

Medicaid Work Requirements: Lessons from the 2018 State Legislative Sessions

When the Trump administration gave the green light to Medicaid work requirements, conservative lawmakers in state legislatures across the country grasped the chance to impose punitive restrictions on...