Despite tight budgets, nearly all states maintained or made targeted expansions or improvements in their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) eligibility and enrollment rules in 2010, preserving the programs’ important role of providing coverage to millions of low-income Americans who otherwise lack affordable options.

This stability in large part reflects the temporary fiscal relief for Medicaid provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) that was tied to requirements for states to maintain Medicaid coverage. The health reform law includes similar protections that require states to maintain public coverage for adults until broader health reform goes into effect in 2014 and until 2019 for children.

These and other findings appear in the report, “Holding Steady, Looking Ahead: Annual Findings of a 50-State Survey of Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures, and Cost-Sharing Practices in Medicaid and CHIP, 2010-2011”, the product of an annual 50-state survey conducted with the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. The Foundation released the report and convened a panel discussion at a public briefing Jan. 11, 2011, at its Washington, D.C., office.

News Release

Holding Steady, Looking Ahead: Annual Findings of a 50-State Survey of Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures, and Cost Sharing Practices in Medicaid and CHIP, 2010-2011

Materials from the January 11, 2011, briefing:

 Agenda

 Participant Bios

 Presentation Slides

Video

 Transcript

Related Resources Released Jan. 11:

State-by-state data on Medicaid and CHIP income eligibility levels for children, pregnant women and low-income adults.

Optimizing Medicaid Enrollment: Spotlight on Technology – Oklahoma’s Automatic Newborn Enrollment System

Building an Information Technology Foundation for Health Reform: A look at Recent Guidance and Funding Opportunities