At 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, January 21, the Kaiser Family Foundation hosted a public briefing to present findings from our 14th annual 50-state survey of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, enrollment, renewal, and cost-sharing policies. The survey, conducted by the Foundation’s Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) and Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, provides new data on states’ Medicaid eligibility and enrollment policies, which have undergone significant change in the two years since the major Medicaid provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect.

The survey provides a profile of states’ current Medicaid enrollment and renewal processes, highlighting capabilities such as real-time eligibility determinations and automated renewals, and provides data on eligibility levels for children, pregnant women, parents and other adults in all 50 states and DC, as well as looking at the differences between Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states. It also provides information on premium and cost sharing requirements across states. The survey report, Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost Sharing Policies as of January 2016: Findings from a 50-State Survey, was released in conjunction with the briefing.

Diane Rowland, Executive Vice President of the Foundation and Executive Director of the KCMU, moderated the briefing. Key findings were presented by survey report co-authors Samantha Artiga, an Associate Director of the KCMU, and Tricia Brooks, Senior Fellow, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

A panel of state and federal officials involved with Medicaid and CHIP provided their perspectives. They included:

• Vikki Wachino, Director for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services,  within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

• Kathleen A. Dunn, Associate Commissioner and Medicaid Director, New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services Office of Medicaid Business and Policy (Note: Dunn had been scheduled to participate but was unable to attend.)

• Gretel Felton, Deputy Commissioner for Beneficiary Services, Alabama Medicaid Agency

• Chris Underwood, Office Director, Health Information Office, Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing