How is the Affordable Care Act Leading to Changes in Medicaid Today? State Responses to Five New Options May 30, 2012 Issue Brief This policy brief examines how states in every region have responded to five key opportunities available under the health reform law to help them prepare for the significant expansion of Medicaid in 2014. The options covered in the brief include incentives for states to get an early start on the…
Cost and Access Challenges: A Comparison of Experiences Between Uninsured and Privately Insured Adults Aged 55 to 64 with Seniors on Medicare May 30, 2012 Report This analysis looks at the difficulties uninsured people ages 55-64 have accessing and affording health care in 2010. Four in 10 of these near-seniors report having unmet health care needs or delaying treatment, while three in 10 uninsured near-seniors lived in families reporting problems paying their medical bills largely due…
The Part D Experience: What are the Lessons for Broader Medicare Reform? May 30, 2012 Event Launched in 2006, Medicare added a prescription drug benefit that relies entirely on private plans, while, for other benefits, beneficiaries have a choice between private health plans and traditional fee-for-service Medicare. As policymakers consider changes to Medicare that would give an even greater role to private health plans in caring…
Health Care Costs: The Role of Technology and Chronic Conditions May 29, 2012 Event The Alliance for Health Reform and co-sponsors presented the second event in a three-part series of discussions on costs, the factors driving them up, and what (if anything) can be done about them. This briefing takes an in-depth look at two of the most often cited cost drivers – technology…
Health Care Use and Chronic Conditions Among Childless Adult Medicaid Enrollees in Arizona May 29, 2012 Issue Brief Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), beginning in 2014, Medicaid eligibility will expand to 133% of the federal poverty level for nearly all individuals. Arizona is one of the few states that already cover adults without dependent children in Medicaid through a longstanding Section 1115 waiver. This report, based on…
Understanding The Medicaid And CHIP Maintenance of Eligibility Requirements May 29, 2012 Fact Sheet This fact sheet examines the provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that require states to maintain eligibility and enrollment standards for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. These maintenance of eligibility (MOE) provisions were designed to keep Medicaid and CHIP coverage stable until coverage expands…
Kaiser Media Fellowships 2012 Massachusetts Site Visits May 25, 2012 Page In May 2012 the Kaiser Media Fellows – journalists with a strong focus on health policy and state health reform – were invited to participate in a week-long program focused on containing health care costs, the impact of almost universal health insurance coverage in Massachusetts, and how the Affordable Care…
Quick Take: Timing Matters: States Waiting for a Supreme Court Decision to Plan an Exchange May 23, 2012 Fact Sheet State-based health insurance exchanges are an important component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) designed to extend subsidized private health insurance coverage to millions of Americans by 2014. Though projections show exchange enrollment could grow to 20 million individuals nationally, aggressive planning on the part of states…
Quick Take: Geographic Variation in Dual Eligible Enrollment May 23, 2012 Fact Sheet Over 9 million elderly Americans and younger persons with disabilities are jointly enrolled in the Medicaid and Medicare programs. These “dual eligibles” receive coverage for most medical services from Medicare, and they also receive Medicaid assistance for Medicare premiums and cost-sharing and coverage of benefits not offered under Medicare (such…
Kaiser Poll Finds Bipartisan Support For Spending On Global Health May 21, 2012 News Release Public Believes Much Aid Is Lost To Corruption MENLO PARK, Calif. – Two-thirds of Americans say that the U.S. is spending too little or about the right amount on global health with one in five saying spending is too high, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey on the public’s views of global…