Tag Archives: CHIP

As CHIP funding runs out, at least one state begins alerting parents

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Joseph Burns

About Joseph Burns

Joseph Burns (@jburns18), a Massachusetts-based independent journalist, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health insurance. He welcomes questions and suggestions on insurance resources and tip sheets at joseph@healthjournalism.org.

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 →

Congressional inaction leaves states squeezed on CHIP funding

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Mary Otto

About Mary Otto

Mary Otto, a Washington, D.C.-based freelancer, is AHCJ's topic leader on oral health and the author of "Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America." She can be reached at mary@healthjournalism.org.

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 →

Children’s health advocates anxious that CHIP funding will slip through the cracks

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Mary Otto

About Mary Otto

Mary Otto, a Washington, D.C.-based freelancer, is AHCJ's topic leader on oral health and the author of "Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America." She can be reached at mary@healthjournalism.org.

Photo: Thomas Hawk via Flickr

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 →

Six things to know about MACRA’s final rule

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Rebecca Vesely

About Rebecca Vesely

Rebecca Vesely is AHCJ's topic leader on health information technology and a freelance writer. She has written about health, science and medicine for AFP, the Bay Area News Group, Modern Healthcare, Wired, Scientific American online and many other news outlets.

Photo: 24oranges.nl via Flickr

Photo: 24oranges.nl via Flickr

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 →

New Fla. case alleges Medicaid dental fraud targeting frail, elderly

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Mary Otto

About Mary Otto

Mary Otto, a Washington, D.C.-based freelancer, is AHCJ's topic leader on oral health and the author of "Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America." She can be reached at mary@healthjournalism.org.

Photo: Rob via Flickr

Photo: Rob via Flickr

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 →

As it considers SGR fix, Senate weighs fundamental shifts to Medicare

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Joseph Burns

About Joseph Burns

Joseph Burns (@jburns18), a Massachusetts-based independent journalist, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health insurance. He welcomes questions and suggestions on insurance resources and tip sheets at joseph@healthjournalism.org.

Image by 401(K) 2012 via Flickr

Image by 401(K) 2012 via Flickr

After voting to eliminate the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula last week, the U.S. House of Representatives sent the measure to the U.S. Senate where the bill’s fate is uncertain. When the Senate recessed on Friday without considering the bill, H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, it pushed off a vote until mid-April.

The bill’s supporters were hoping for a Senate vote last week because, as Jennifer Haberkorn, of Politico Pro, and Mary Agnes Carey explained for Kaiser Health News, the Senate’s return date of April 13 leaves two weeks for those who like the bill and those who don’t to gather support and consider their options.

“Traditionally in Washington, the more time you have, the more opportunity there is for opposition to fester. That should be a concern in this case because it is two weeks before the Senate returns,” Haberkorn said. Continue reading →