Medicaid

Diane Rowland, executive director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, testified before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging on the future of Medicaid and its role for low-income Americans, particularly the elderly.Testimony (.pdf)

Individuals with disabilities who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid must also shift to a Medicare prescription drug benefit in 2006. This report analyzes how younger dual eligibles in Kansas enrolled in work incentive programs differ than other Medicare enrollees in the types of drugs they use and how…

Individuals cannot qualify for Medicaid nursing home care or home and community-based services unless they meet their state's asset eligibility standards. Currently, states are required to examine all transfers for less than fair market value that occurred within 36 months prior to an individual's application for Medicaid. This issue paper…

With discussions on restructuring Medicaid occurring in state capitols and Washington, two new reports provide the latest data on how much of Medicaid's spending is for covering mandatory versus optional populations and services. The analysis shows that although optional populations account for 29 percent of Medicaid enrollment, 60 percent of…

Key Implementation Dates for the Medicare Prescription Drug BenefitThis timeline presents important dates and deadlines of key implementation activities related to the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). It runs from the beginning of 2005 through the end of 2006, the first year of the new…

Medicaid Enrollment and Spending by “Mandatory” and “Optional” Eligibility and Benefit CategoriesThis report presents new estimates of the proportion of Medicaid beneficiaries and spending that is mandatory and optional to promote an increased understanding of how Medicaid restructuring proposals might affect the various groups and services covered by the program.Report…

Medicaid: An Overview of Spending on “Mandatory” vs. “Optional” Populations and ServicesThis issue brief provides an overview of Medicaid’s optional beneficiaries and services. The brief demonstrates that although “optional” populations account for only 29 percent of Medicaid enrollment, 60 percent of all Medicaid expenditures for both “mandatory” and “optional” populations…

The nation’s safety net financing is fragmented; consequently, providers must knit together resources from many different funding sources to create a stream of revenue to cover the costs of providing a very broad range of services. This report describes those sources of revenue, documenting that nearly 40% of all safety…

Over the past few years, a number of states have implemented new or increased existing out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries in their Medicaid, SCHIP, or other public coverage programs. This brief reviews the key findings from this recent activity, including the impact on enrollment in public coverage programs, access to care,…

This report explores how four state Medicaid programs — Washington, Wyoming, Minnesota, and North Carolina — differ in their use of Oregon’s Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP) to manage their prescription drug benefit.Report (.pdf)