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Across the U.S., tooth decay remains widespread. Poor and minority Americans continue to be disproportionately burdened by disease. But in recent years, some progress has been made in addressing oral health disparities and reaching vulnerable children with needed dental services, federal data show.
According to newly released findings from the 2011-16 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES): Continue reading
Data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation show that when the Children’s Health Insurance Program was enacted in 1997, the uninsured rate among children (those individuals under age 18) was 14 percent and that it reached an all-time low of 5 percent last year.
Officials in 12 states may start sending letters to parents this week, alerting families that funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program is running out, according to reporting by Colby Itkowitz and Sandhya Somashekhar in The Washington Post. In Colorado, letters went out in the mail today.
“Many states have enough money to keep their individual programs afloat for at least a few months, but five could run out in late December if lawmakers do not act,” Itkowitz and Somashekhar wrote. “Others will start to exhaust resources the following month.” Continue reading
With Congress failing to meet a Sept. 30 deadline to extend federal funding, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) now is facing an uncertain future.
Established 20 years ago, CHIP provides medical and dental coverage to nine million children from lower-income families whose incomes are slightly too high to qualify for Medicaid. Continue reading
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Amid the ongoing debate over the fate of the Affordable Care Act, another landmark federal health care program faces an uncertain future.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides medical and dental coverage to nearly nine million children of the working poor, marked its 20th anniversary in August. But funding for CHIP runs out on Sept. 30, and unless a divided and distracted Congress takes action to renew it, state CHIP programs could start running out of money later this year, analysts warn. Continue reading
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The final rule on the massive physician payment overhaul law came out on Oct. 14. Since then, interest and advocacy groups have been combing through the 2,400-page regulation and further clarifications are trickling out.
As a refresher, the Medicare and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) aims to replace years of uncertainty around Medicare payments to physicians. It also revises requirements for health IT adoption and provides incentives for physicians to move towards value-based payments. Continue reading
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Back in May, reporters in Florida stayed busy covering the nightmarish story of a Jacksonville dentist under investigation for Medicaid fraud by the state attorney general’s office.
Howard S. Schneider, who made nearly $4 million from Medicaid over five years, according to state records, gave up his license in the wake of allegations that he had overtreated and abused children. Continue reading