Tag Archives: expansion

What Missouri, Oklahoma teach us about state efforts to expand Medicaid eligibility

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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.

Projected costs

Source: Analysis of the Fiscal Impact of Medicaid Expansion in Missouri, Center for Health Economics and Policy, Institute for Public Health, Washington University in St. Louis, 2019. Reprinted with permission.

Missouri voters in August approved a ballot measure that would expand Medicaid eligibility to include healthy adults, beginning July 1, 2021.

According to reporting at NPR by Alex Smith, 53.25% of 1.2 million voters approved the measure, meaning Missouri joins 36 other states and the District of Columbia in expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The approval came despite strong opposition from Republicans and rural voters, Smith wrote. Continue reading →

House passes first bill to expand the ACA

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Joanne Kenen

About Joanne Kenen

Joanne Kenen, (@JoanneKenen) the health editor at Politico, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform and curates related material at healthjournalism.org. She welcomes questions and suggestions on health reform resources and tip sheets at joanne@healthjournalism.org. Follow her on Facebook.

Photo: Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr

The House recently passed a health reform bill – and it’s a definite win for the incrementalists.

The Democratic presidential primaries – which now feel like they took place in another universe, long ago and far away – were animated by a significant divide over whether to move to a single-payer “Medicare for All” health care system or to build upon the Affordable Care Act. Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden wants to build on the ACA and favors adding a public option. Continue reading →

Utah’s Medicaid expansion hits some headwinds

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Joanne Kenen

About Joanne Kenen

Joanne Kenen, (@JoanneKenen) the health editor at Politico, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform and curates related material at healthjournalism.org. She welcomes questions and suggestions on health reform resources and tip sheets at joanne@healthjournalism.org. Follow her on Facebook.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert

No sooner had we posted an update on the prospects for Medicaid expansion in several states, including the three that passed ballot initiatives in November, than news came of obstacles emerging in Utah.

The state legislature may take one or more of these actions: delay the April start; cover fewer people; add work requirements or other conditions. Continue reading →

New tip sheet can assist your coverage of threats to Medicaid dental benefits

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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 by U.S. Pacific Fleet via Flickr

Roughly 38 million low-income adults across the United States rely upon Medicaid for a broad range of health care benefits. But not all of them can count on obtaining even the most basic dental services.

While children are entitled to dental care under Medicaid, dental benefits for adults are only considered an option. Under federal law, each state determines the scope of its adult dental coverage. Continue reading →

States continue to expand Medicaid, with others possibly voting on the issue

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Joanne Kenen

About Joanne Kenen

Joanne Kenen, (@JoanneKenen) the health editor at Politico, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform and curates related material at healthjournalism.org. She welcomes questions and suggestions on health reform resources and tip sheets at joanne@healthjournalism.org. Follow her on Facebook.

Image: The Kaiser Family Foundation’s State Health Facts

There’s been a spurt of Medicaid expansion activity in several states. Thirty-three states plus the District of Columbia have approved expansion (including Maine – more on that below.)

Virginia is the most recent state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam ran last fall on a Medicaid pledge – and the balance of power in his state’s legislature shifted too, with the GOP still in control but now with narrow majorities in both chambers. Continue reading →

Health advocates, legislators wrestle with Medicaid work requirements

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Joanne Kenen

About Joanne Kenen

Joanne Kenen, (@JoanneKenen) the health editor at Politico, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform and curates related material at healthjournalism.org. She welcomes questions and suggestions on health reform resources and tip sheets at joanne@healthjournalism.org. Follow her on Facebook.

Photo: Thomas Hawk via Flickr

Three states – Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas – have now gotten permission from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to add work requirements to Medicaid. More are in the wings – possibly including two states with Democratic governors who are looking for some way to compromise with Republican legislators to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act .

In our latest tip sheet, TPM’s Alice Ollstein explains some of the debates reporters need to understand as they cover this topic. Continue reading →