Last week, CMS Administrator Seema Verma gave a major policy address to the National Association of Medicaid Directors. She made two things crystal clear. First, she cares about protecting “deservi…| Center For Children and Families
Last week the House of Representatives, by the narrowest of margins (215-214), passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1. The bill includes unprecedented changes to Medicaid summarized he…| Center For Children and Families
Asked about broader spending cuts … Trump said we’ll “love and cherish” Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the last of which insures more than 70 million Americans. “We’re not going to do anyt…| Center For Children and Families
“States are abusing federal Medicaid policy. There is an enormous amount of waste, fraud and abuse in the program.” – Brian Blase, President, Paragon Health Institute, as reported in Stat (Ja…| Center For Children and Families
[Read Andy Schneider’s most recent blog about fraud against Medicaid: The Improper Use of Improper Payments.] As my colleague Edwin Park has explained, capping federal Medicaid payments to st…| Center For Children and Families
The latest round of proposed Medicaid regulations has a number of helpful provisions but we couldn’t help be disappointed that the proposed rules allow states to continue to impose CHIP waiting per…| Center For Children and Families
There has been a lot of information and misinformation about Medicaid coverage for immigrants circulating in the news, including wildly inaccurate reporting that undocumented immigrants are driving…| Center For Children and Families
All things Medicaid financing, regulation and legislation. Featured Posts| Center For Children and Families
Unpacking the Rural Health Transformation Fund Created by Congress to Soften Impact of Medicaid Cuts on Rural Hospitals| Center For Children and Families
I grew up in North Carolina and often split my time between the urban center of the state and some of its most beautiful and rural areas on the back sounds “Down East.” This part of NC is so rural and was isolated for so long, generations of residents still speak with a distinctive Elizabethan […]| Center For Children and Families
Amber and Darrell Daniels with three of their four children. They live in Caldwell, Idaho. Darrell works for a pest control company while Amber enjoys being a stay-at-home mom to care for their children| Center For Children and Families
The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families did a rapid analysis of newly released U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS) data. The webinar took place on Friday, September 12 at 1:00 p.m. ET, featuring a presentation of state-by-state child health coverage trends and other key insights. Joan Alker, Executive Director of the Georgetown University […]| Center For Children and Families
Every year we examine data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) which provides the most comprehensive look nationally and by state at important trends impacting America’s families – including health insurance. Today we are sharing our analysis of data that came out just yesterday for calendar year 2024. Our analysis is […]| Center For Children and Families
From 2022 to 2024, the rate of uninsured children increased from 5.1% to 6%, which is the highest rate of uninsured children in a decade. This was a statistically significant change and equates to an 18% increase in the number of uninsured children nationwide, marking a dramatic reversal of the progress made on child health […]| Center For Children and Families
Last spring we walked through Medicaid’s role in supporting early childhood educators and subsequently the risks of proposed federal Medicaid cuts to the child care system. Fast forward to July 4th: the HR 1 “Megabill” was rushed through reconciliation and signed into law, leading to the biggest cut in Medicaid’s 60-year history. These cuts– and […]| Center For Children and Families
Vaccine safety and changes happening at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have been an ongoing topic of conversation throughout the past few months. As we have previously discussed here on Say Ahhh!, HHS has announced upcoming studies and potential changes to how vaccines are approved and recommended for different populations. Most notably, […]| Center For Children and Families
Today the U.S. Census Bureau released the Current Population Survey (CPS) for 2024 which examines income, health insurance and other trends. Overall, the uninsured rate was unchanged at 8%; the child uninsured rate was 6.1%. – a slight increase that was not statistically significant. Later this week we will get state by state data from […]| Center For Children and Families
As fall respiratory virus season ramps up, major changes to the vaccine policy landscape in the U.S. are coming. Some states, such as Florida, have announced an effort to end all vaccine requiremen…| Center For Children and Families
Medicaid: A Lifeline for Women’s Health Across the Lifespan| Center For Children and Families
Welcome to another installment on the misuse of the Medicaid “improper payments” metric. This conversation began in 2018, then continued in 2020, 2022, and this year. For th…| Center For Children and Families
A recent article in Health Affairs Forefront argues that threats to policies, programs, and data systems will substantially set back progress made over the past few years in addressing the maternal and infant mortality. As a group of experts who previously served as federally-appointed members of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) […]| Center For Children and Families
Key Findings State systems are unprepared for federal demands to implement a Medicaid work reporting requirement and other onerous changes. HR 1 (P.L. 119-21) requires states to implement complex w…| Center For Children and Families
This tracker will report on eight state-reported Medicaid and CHIP performance indicators. The analysis of state data is displayed in national maps for the most recent quarter broken into four quar…| Center For Children and Families
As of June 2024, a paltry 4,231 Georgians were enrolled in Georgia’s section 1115 Medicaid waiver, according to reports from the state recently posted by federal CMS. Data from the newly released r…| Center For Children and Families
Our world is constantly in flux and that can be stressful. But you can rest assured that Medicaid work requirements are a consistently and unalterably terrible idea. The years may pass, but some th…| Center For Children and Families
CMS Administrator Seema Verma is visibly proud of her agency’s Medicaid and CHIP scorecard, which she claims has ushered in “a new era of accountability and transparency in Medicaid”. The scorecar…| Center For Children and Families
As readers of SayAhhh! know, we have been closely following the developments in Arkansas – which was the first state to implement a Medicaid work requirement in the second half of 2018 before a fed…| Center For Children and Families
By Jennifer M. Haley, Genevieve M. Kenney, Eva H. Allen, and Michael Karpman Work requirements in Medicaid are on the agenda at the federal level and in multiple states, despite evidence that they …| Center For Children and Families
On June 25, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law. While a high-level overview of the legislation has previously been detailed on SayAhhh!, with the language now enac…| Center For Children and Families
Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements: Feds Forcing States to Spend Resources to Cover Fewer People| Center For Children and Families
As discussed in our overview of H.R. 1, the budget reconciliation bill passed by Congress and signed by President Trump, the new law includes a harmful new work reporting requirement for Medicaid. …| Center For Children and Families
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the Congressionally-passed budget reconciliation law, known as “One Big Beautiful Bill,” into law. As we have talked about extensively, this law will drastic…| Center For Children and Families
Q2 2025, which ended on June 30, is not just another quarter. That’s because on July 4 the Budget Reconciliation Law (P.L. 119-21) was signed into law. That law makes major cuts to Medicaid, redu…| Center For Children and Families
On August 11, 2025, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued more detailed estimates of the impact of the budget reconciliation law (H.R. 1 or P.L. 119-21) on health coverage. Consistent with f…| Center For Children and Families
The passage of the recently enacted tax and budget law (HR1) will have major implications for state budgets, but the impact will be disproportionate. For example, Medicaid, expansion states (plus W…| Center For Children and Families
On Sunday, the Administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Dr. Mehmet Oz, appeared on Face the Nation. He was pressed repeatedly on Medicaid cuts by Host Margaret…| Center For Children and Families
Medicaid is the nation’s largest health insurer, covering over 70 million Americans. And, as a new CCF report documents, it is a particularly important source of coverage for children and adu…| Center For Children and Families
Medicaid Cuts in the House-Passed Reconciliation Bill: Questions for Senators| Center For Children and Families
By: Billy Dering, Amy Killelea, and Christine Monahan (Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms) The recently enacted federal budget law is set to significantly roll back …| Center For Children and Families
Republicans from President Trump on down are trying to hide the ball on how much they want to cut federal Medicaid payments to states and how they would go about doing so. But as my colleague Edwin…| Center For Children and Families
How Would Changes to Federal Medicaid Expansion Funding Impact People in “Trigger” States and Those with Expansion Enshrined in State Constitutions?| Center For Children and Families
What would a second Trump Administration have in store for Medicaid? The Project 2025 blueprint includes truly draconian cuts just like the House Republican Study Committee budget plan does. Now,…| Center For Children and Families
Last year, conservative organizations led by the Heritage Foundation unveiled a “Project 2025” policy agenda for a potential second term of the Trump Administration. While the overall Project 2025 …| Center For Children and Families
Download the Full Explainer (PDF) On April 2, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published the second part of a two-part final rule that simplifies the eligibility and enrollmen…| Center For Children and Families
On March 20, 2024, the Republican Study Committee (RSC), whose members comprise more than three-quarters of the House Republican caucus, announced its fiscal year 2025 budget plan. The budget plan…| Center For Children and Families
Yesterday, on September 19, 2023, House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington issued a House budget resolution for fiscal year 2024 that would cut federal Medicaid spending by $1.9 trillion — or n…| Center For Children and Families
The Medicaid work reporting requirement provisions contained in Section 321 of House Speaker McCarthy’s draft debt ceiling bill released yesterday are a radical attempt to cut federal funds for Med…| Center For Children and Families
Georgetown University Center for Children and Families submitted these comments to CMS on the “Streamlining the Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, and Basic Health Program Applica…| Center For Children and Families
Introduction States now face large and growing budget deficits due to the COVID-19 health and economic crisis.1In turn, school districts are bracing for substantial cuts to state funding of K-12 ed…| Center For Children and Families
CMS Gives Options to States with “Unusual Circumstances” to Extend Unwinding Renewals, Redistributing Renewals, and Deal with Pending Renewals| Center For Children and Families
Medicaid Managed Care: Headwinds for the Big Five in the Budget Reconciliation Law| Center For Children and Families
Early this week FitchRatings posted its take on the implications of the Budget Reconciliation Law (P.L. 119-21) for the “Big Five” insurers— Centene, CVSHealth/Aetna, Elevance Health, Molina Health…| Center For Children and Families
Just before our nation’s birthday, the House passed the Senate version of the budget reconciliation bill and it headed to the President’s desk. Congressional leaders cheered and clapped as Presiden…| Center For Children and Families
As a follow-up to requirements under the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that required the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to set up a technical assistance center and provi…| Center For Children and Families
The Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health recently released state-by-state maternal mental health report cards that provide a snapshot of state progress addressing maternal mental health. Using …| Center For Children and Families
With Vice President breaking the tie, the U.S. Senate just voted 50-50 “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, the crown jewel of President Trump’s legislative agenda. With final text not even availabl…| Center For Children and Families
Last month, the U.S. House passed the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act with an array of cuts to Medicaid and other critical supports for mothers, infants, and young children. Somehow, as Joan Alker desc…| Center For Children and Families
Women comprise the majority of the adult Medicaid population, covering 19% of women ages 19-64 compared to 14% of men in 2023.1 Medicaid and CHIP cover pregnant women at higher income levels than o…| Center For Children and Families
The raging battle over Medicaid funding is really a fight about the soul of Medicaid and our progress as a society. The broader objective of the House legislation is clear – to reverse decades of p…| Center For Children and Families
For over 100 years, the unfinished business of creating a health care system that covers all Americans has raged on. With President Obama making this a top priority, in 2010 this effort took an unp…| Center For Children and Families
On June 2, 2025, The White House posted a “Mythbuster” fact sheet in defense of the House-passed reconciliation bill. However, the sheet is full of inaccuracies and advances more myths than facts—t…| Center For Children and Families
Last month, Congress rushed through the night to pass the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act with last minute changes that would further increase cuts to many federal programs. In the health care sections…| Center For Children and Families
We have not cut Medicaid, and we have not cut SNAP. What we’re doing…is working on fraud, waste, and abuse. And everyone in Louisiana and around the country understands that that’s a responsibilit…| Center For Children and Families
Last week, a member of the Trump administration repeated a claim that the Administration was “kicking illegal immigrants off Medicaid to protect Medicaid for AMERICANS!” This is consistent with mis…| Center For Children and Families
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has a long history of bipartisan support. But CHIP is not spared by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HB 1). It’s quite possible bipartisan CHIP support…| Center For Children and Families
The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income countries and over 80% of maternal deaths are preventable. Birth outcomes are even worse for Black women, who are three to four ti…| Center For Children and Families
Medicaid, along with the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), covers more than 40% of the nation’s young children under age six, including three quarters (75%) of young, low-income children …| Center For Children and Families
Misinformation and confusion (even among lawmakers, more on that below) about immigrant eligibility and enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) continues to dominate t…| Center For Children and Families
Editor’s Note: CCF published a brief explaining the final bill that was signed into law on July 4, 2025. In the early morning of Thursday, May 22nd, on a 215-214 vote, House Republicans passe…| Center For Children and Families
As expected, the House’s rushed attempt to finance the Trump Administration’s immigration and tax agenda by cutting Medicaid includes a “work requirement.” Proponents claim that it is intended to s…| Center For Children and Families
Statement by Joan Alker, Executive Director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, regarding Medicaid provisions included in the House Energy and Commerce budget reconciliat…| Center For Children and Families
The Center for Children and Families turned 20 on Monday! I marked this milestone as a guest on the NPR 1A program, explaining the role of Medicaid and Congressional proposals to cut it deeply. Man…| Center For Children and Families
In Partnership with: Most people are familiar with Medicare as a major source of health coverage for seniors. However, Medicaid also provides crucial coverage for millions of older adults. Over 7 m…| Center For Children and Families
In Partnership with Medicaid is an important source of health coverage for the early childhood education professionals who support child development and care for children while parents work, and fo…| Center For Children and Families
The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, National Association for the Education of Young Children, and Center for Law and Social Policy held a webinar on Thursday, May 1st at 3 p…| Center For Children and Families
Medicaid is the nation’s largest health insurer, providing over 70 million children, parents, people with disabilities, and low-income seniors with health coverage. It’s clear that the major cuts t…| Center For Children and Families
I previously warned about how imposing a per capita cap on the Medicaid expansion would effectively lead to a sharp cut to the current 90 percent matching rate for the 40 states and the District of…| Center For Children and Families
With Congress returning to DC, we expect to learn more about the Medicaid cuts under serious consideration as part of the budget reconciliation process fairly soon. But, in the meantime, states are…| Center For Children and Families
Working parents don’t need survey data to tell them our nation is facing a serious child care crisis. They are reminded every time they pay their child care bill that often exceeds even the high co…| Center For Children and Families
While Medicaid continues to fly beneath the radar as an election issue, it is increasingly clear that the results of this fall’s federal elections will determine whether Medicaid will be at serious…| Center For Children and Families
Key Findings Non-elderly adults and children in small towns and rural areas are more likely than those living in metro areas to rely on Medicaid/CHIP for their health insurance. As a consequence, r…| Center For Children and Families
Click on a state below to view rates of Medicaid coverage in Metro and Small Town/Rural counties. AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgia…| Center For Children and Families
As we have previously written, since the November election, Congressional Republican leaders have been increasingly open about their intent to make deeply damaging cuts to Medicaid. Now, at a…| Center For Children and Families