Medicaid Expansion and ACA Enrollment for 2019 Nov. 29, 2018, 2 p.m. ET We will take a look at the Medicaid expansion landscape for 2019, after the midterm elections, changes in state government and ballot initiatives. What has to happen next? And what will it take for the holdout states to finally change. We also will review what's known about ACA enrollment by the end of November.
Health care in the courts September 2018 The role of the courts has recently heightened as many individual market and Medicaid policy issues are set to be determined by judges across the country. In the lead up to the midterm elections, this webinar examined the implications of impending health policy legal decisions.
Using data tools to understand ACA 2019 August 2018 The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has launched new trackers that help us get insight into the coming ACA enrollment season, county by county.
EMMA: Get to know this source for hospital financial reports August 2018 If you are looking for detailed information about the financial health of hospital systems and health care facilities, you need to know EMMA. The Electronic Municipal Market Access website is the official source for comprehensive annual financial reports and operating information about any hospital or health care facility financed by public debt.
Understand new insurance plans and their impact on the ACA July 2018 A discussion about association health plans and short-duration health plans – what are they, what will they cover (and not cover), how will they address pre-existing conditions, and what do they mean for the ACA markets?
Marketplace open enrollment preview October 2017 This Alliance for Health Policy webinar unpacks the knowns and unknowns heading into the upcoming Affordable Care Act marketplace open enrollment period that begins on Nov. 1. The discussion examines what those currently enrolled in marketplace coverage and those planning to shop for coverage can expect when it comes to plan choices, costs, plan design, and help enrolling.
Marketing matters: ACA enrollment in 2018 October 2017 A conversation with California exchange director Peter Lee about lessons learned in the first years of enrollment, and how to apply them going forward in a different political climate.
New administration, new approach to Medicaid waivers? September 2017 The Trump administration has told states to expect “more freedom to design programs that meet the spectrum of diverse needs of their Medicaid population.” Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waivers have been available to states as long as the program has existed, but each administration takes its own approach to assessing waiver requests. This presentation will give attendees an understanding of the Medicaid waiver landscape heading into a busy fall, when precedent-setting decisions are expected on several states’ proposals.
Where Medicaid stands: From the AHCA to state waivers May 2017 This webcast focuses on how the AHCA would impact states and Medicaid beneficiaries, how a system of per capita caps would work, what we learned from the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, and how states might respond to new waiver flexibility from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. We will examine these issues from both the federal and state perspective, and from the perspective of reporters covering this important issue.
Health policy is unpredictable in the Age of Trump. This webcast looks at recent developments in Washington, D.C. – and how they affect health coverage in states. We’ll look at the current state of the Affordable Care Act, and likely changes to Medicaid.
What's next for health policy? April 2017 This webcast looks ahead at the issues surrounding U.S. health care and at potential changes that Congress, the Trump administration, and the states will be likely to adopt in the coming months and years. What are the problems that persist in the health system, especially in the individual insurance market? What are the policy options to address them, through executive action, agency rulemaking, and legislation?
February 2017 A repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act is on the agenda for Congress in 2017, and while Americans remain divided on which policy proposals they favor, there is shared concern about rising premiums and deductibles for those covered by private insurance. This webinar presents an overview of the individual and employer-based insurance markets before and after the ACA, and looks ahead at the choices both insurers and consumers must make for 2018 and beyond. They also discuss key considerations for journalists covering developments at the federal, state and local level. Click here to watch the webinar and access the speakers' presentations and source lists.
September 2016 Katherine Hempstead, of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, discussed the upcoming enrollment season, story ideas and some of the data the foundation has gathered to better understand the status of the insurance market.
March 2016 CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt oversees Medicaid, Medicare, Children's Health Insurance Program and the ACA health insurance exchanges. And he's deeply involved with CMS efforts to improve value and quality of U.S. health care by changing delivery models and payment incentives. He's talking to AHCJ members about what's ahead this year.
July 2015 Katherine Hempstead, of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shared data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Learn about insurance carriers in each state – their enrollment, premiums, claims and several measures of utilization.
The other part of health reform: Changing the delivery of care The ACA is more than a way to extend health care coverage to millions of Americans. The 2010 law also takes steps to shift how we deliver health care – to do a better job of managing chronic diseases, to make hospitals safer, to move away from fee-for-service, to get more quality for our health care spending.
Covering how states will prepare for second ACA enrollment season The second enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act begins in November – just after the elections. What do states have to do to prepare? What tasks await the states using HealthCare.gov versus their own exchanges?
Federal exchanges: News briefing for regional and local reporters CMS officials answered questions from reporters about the federal health insurance marketplace. Reporters had direct, on-the-record access to Gary Cohen, deputy administrator and director, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, and Julie Bataille, director, CMS Office of Communications.
The state countdown: Fate of exchanges after the election Just days after the November elections, states will have to make final (or reasonably final) decisions about whether they are going to run their own health insurance exchange and what that will look like – or whether the federal government will take responsibility for all or part of the exchange.
Webcast: The Supreme Court has ruled. Now what? To assist reporters across the country who will need to localize the decision and what it means for their states and local communities, AHCJ will host a one-hour online roundtable of experts to offer you suggestions on stories you can pursue right away and in the weeks ahead. We will help you identify stories that make sense for you as a local or regional reporter.
Video
Legislators Who Built Obamacare Look Back and Ahead
As we approach the 10th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, here's a clip of the five congressional committee chairmen who got it enacted looking back, acknowledging the political price – and expressing no regrets. The discussion occurred at the Aspen Ideas festival in 2018. They are former Sens. Max Baucus and Chris Dodd, and former Reps. Henry Waxman, George Miller, and Sander Levin.
Joanne Kenen appears on CBS News to discuss health care costs and attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
High U.S. health care costs: What might Congress do?
The United States spends more on health care per capita than other developed countries — much more. One recent paper estimated that U.S. costs were 25 percent higher than the next closest country. Recent polls have shown that reducing health care costs has emerged as one of the public’s top priorities for President Trump and the new Congress. Polls also show that health care costs are the leading pocketbook issue for families. To date, most discussion has been about prescription drug costs, but polling data suggest that the issue is likely to broaden as we approach the 2020 election to include debates on increasing government intervention vs. encouraging private sector competition to reduce costs. What might a divided Congress do? Drawing on a newly released poll by Politico and the Harvard Chan School, a panel of experts considered various solutions that have emerged to reduce health care costs. At 11:23, Harvard Kennedy School Dean Doug Elmendorf, the former director of the Congressional Budget Office, laments that the country’s Obamacare wars has cost us a decade chasing an ACA replacement mirage instead of focusing on the pressing issues of health care spending and affordability.
Nancy Pelosi appears on Face the Nation to talk about her commitment to preserving the Affordable Care Act, and its role in the Democratic House victory in the 2018 midterm elections.
Verma's goals for Medicaid
At a Washington Post event, U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma talked about her vision for the future of Medicaid, including restraining its cost growth, measuring outcomes, and promoting greater state flexibility.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was one of the leading Republican foes of all the efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act in the first year of the Trump administration. Then she voted for the Senate tax bill - which repeals the individual mandate, a centerpiece of the law. On Meet the Press on Dec. 3, she explains why she is comfortable with the tax bill. The relevant clip starts at about 13:55 and ends right before the 15-minute mark.
The Kaiser Family Foundation held this briefing for reporters on Oct. 18, 2017, reflecting the shifting landscape around Affordable Care Act marketplaces and the open enrollment period beginning Nov. 1.
The New York Times assembled a 1 minute, 48 second video capturing how President Donald Trump explains that health care is going to be "phenomenal."
Starting at 20:44 in this discussion, Mollyann Brodie of the Kaiser Family Foundation talks about the Trump voter and health care on a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival Spotlight Health.
Five former secretaries of HHS talk about the Affordable Care Act In a first-of-its-kind gathering in June 2015, five U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretaries talk about the American way of health care. These leaders – Kathleen Sebelius, Donna Shalala, Louis W. Sullivan,Tommy Thompson and David Mathews – also presided over the agency as astounding progress occurred in biomedical research, the American population grew older and more diverse, and repeated attempts were made to expand access to care. What can these former officials tell us about the government’s evolving role in health, and about bringing a divided nation together around better health for all? Moderated by PBS’Judy Woodruff. (Video credit to Aspen Institute, Spotlight Health/Aspen Ideas Festival)
President Barack Obama appeared on the comedy show on Dec. 9, 2014. Erik Wemple of The Washington Post describes it: "The two also pulled off a stunt in which Obama sat in Colbert’s chair and played the temporary role of Colbert’s faux-conservative TV commentator. “Nation, as you know, I, Stephen Colbert, have never cared for our president,” said Obama. “The guy is so arrogant. I bet he talks about himself in the third person.” With that, Obama-as-Colbert went on a false tirade against Obamacare, outlining various strategies for killing it off." Watch the extended video.
On Oct. 9, 2014, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell attended a policy breakfast with reporters, which was sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Affairs. Burwell made comments on the Ebola response, HealthCare.gov and other health care policy issues.
Katherine Hempstead, Ph.D., discusses story ideas, highlights of six databases on health reform.
President Obama Nominates Sylvia Mathews Burwell as secretary of Health and Human Services
President Obama thanks outgoing HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for her work and announces he is nominating the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, as her successor. (April 11, 2014)
