2018

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, ...

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...

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...

A Census Undercount Could Damage People’s Health Care

Many factors could prevent numerous communities from fully participating in the 2020 Census. These factors include underfunded Census outreach, a proposed Census question asking about citizenship, and...

Red Tape Results in Thousands of Arkansans Losing Coverage

NOTE (January 17, 2019): From August through December 2018, Arkansas disenrolled over 18,000 from Medicaid for failure to meet the work hours reporting requirement. Each individual disenrolled was ...