Medicaid

Experts at the Commonwealth Fund who analyzed data for the group’s annual state scorecard say the results show the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed existing weaknesses in the health care system, including eroding coverage, persistent high costs and preventable deaths, that state and federal governments must partner to fix.

Health care advocates say the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, which found more than a million fewer Americans had health insurance in 2019 than in the previous year even as the median income hit record highs, show the Trump administration’s policies are undermining coverage.

Americans who receive Medicaid coverage for COVID-19 testing and diagnostic services under the option created by the Family First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) are still eligible to for tax credits to help purchase comprehensive ACA-compliant coverage, the Treasury Department and IRS affirms in guidance out Thursday (Sept. 10).

Data from 30 states show that Medicaid enrollment increased by about 8.4% from February through July as Americans lost jobs and related income due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

The White House is asking Congress to fund certain so-called Medicare and Medicaid extenders -- most of which are set to run through Nov. 30 -- as part of an expected continuing resolution to keep the government open in fiscal 2021, and an Office of Management and Budget document obtained by sister news service Inside Defense also says the White House would consider other policies that often ride along with the extenders, like a delay in cuts to Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital payments.

Texas on Tuesday (Sept. 1) followed in the footsteps of California by offering postpartum services to low-income beneficiaries up to one year after giving birth through its Healthy Texas Women program, becoming the second state in the nation to implement such a policy.

The American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals called on CMS to immediately reverse its plan to potentially remove hospitals from Medicare and Medicaid if they don’t report COVID-19 data to HHS, with AHA calling the changes to hospital conditions of participation unveiled on Tuesday (Aug. 25) disturbing and heavy-handed.

CMS on Monday (Aug. 17) announced it will resume all regular inspections of nursing homes, after postponing them earlier this year as nursing homes grappled with COVID-19 outbreaks.

Oklahoma has withdrawn its controversial block grant proposal from CMS after Oklahoma voters earlier this summer voted to expand Medicaid with language barring the state from seeking policies to make it more difficult to qualify for Medicaid.