2018

Beware! New Guidance on Section 1332 Waivers Opens  the Way for Serious Harm

Under Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act, states are allowed to apply for state innovation waivers that waive certain parts of the act’s requirements1 for private health insurance and marketpl...

Proposed Program Integrity Rule: The Potentially Good and the Bad

UPDATE: 1/8/19 - Links to Families USA's comments on the proposed Program Integrity Rule are available here. On November 7, 2018—the morning after Election Day—the Trump administration propos...

Kentucky’s Medicaid Waiver Will Lead to Tens of Thousands of Kentuckians Losing Health Insurance

When the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Kentucky’s Medicaid waiver on January 12, 2017, it opened a new front in the Trump Administration’s campaign to roll back the gains in c...

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, ...

Treating Pain Is Not Enough: Why States’ Emergency-Only Dental Benefits Fall Short

States have great latitude to determine the scope of dental benefits that they will cover for adults through their Medicaid programs. While some states cover comprehensive benefits, others cover emerg...

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...

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...

Four Ways Our Health Care Is at Risk in the Supreme Court Nomination Fight

View Families USA's Sign-On Letter: SCOTUS Vacancy and Health Care With last night’s announcement of Brett Kavanaugh as President Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme...