Expand Medicaid? Out of the pan, into the fire

What Would Block Grants or Limits on Per Capita Spending Mean for Medicaid?

This issue brief explores how turning Medicaid into a block-grant program, or imposing spending caps, would likely affect eligibility, benefits, and states’ ability to meet their low-income residents’ health care needs.

Five Facts about Medicaid

Medicaid now covers 73 million people, making it the nation’s largest insurer. It is the centerpiece of the U.S. health care safety net, providing benefits to adults and children who would otherwise have difficulty getting and paying for care. Yet the program is not well understood by the public.

Why Fully Expanded Medicaid Matters

Are you currently healthy? Are you and your spouse able to work and provide for your family? Are your children healthy enough to focus and learn during the school day? Health is easily taken for gr…

Many Toddlers Fail To Get Necessary Medicaid Renewal At Their First Birthday

Infants born to women covered by Medicaid or CHIP may be automatically eligible for that insurance during their first year, but advocates say confusing rules and bureaucratic problems too often pre…

Why Medicare and Medicaid Can Outmatch Private Plans on Cost

Good news: The medical system doesn’t seem to discriminate by insurance status. Bad news: The value of care is hard to influence by adjusting prices.

Expanding coverage: How PCPs are accommodating newly insured

Are there enough physicians in the US to accommodate the millions of newly insured? How will the health care system manage its growing patient population?

Why Medicaid Planning Is So Important

you are unlikely to follow it unless you understand why Medicaid planning is so important.

A Guide to the Medicaid Appeals Process

This background brief provides a comprehensive look at the appeals process for the Medicaid program, which differs significantly from those available through the Medicare program and private health…

10 tips for working with MCOs to advance Medicaid program integrity

Have you turned to managed care organizations (MCOs) to reduce Medicaid costs and improve patient care? If so, you probably know how difficult it is to know for sure whether your MCOs are doing all…

How Medicaid Coverage & Political Participation Go Hand-in-Hand

A new Data for Progress memo is the latest piece of research to suggest that Medicaid expansion has impacts far beyond just health outcomes, this time suggesting expanding Medicaid coverage leads to increased political participation.

Why Medicaid patients use the emergency department for primary care

Expanding insurance without expanding the primary care infrastructure drives more patients to the emergency department.

What happens to community hospitals if Medicaid isn't funded?

How Medicaid lowers high school dropout rates and leads to more college grads

The education case for expanding public health care.

Three maps that explain what happens when you expand Medicaid

Turns out that, if you increase Medicaid coverage, the ranks of the uninsured go down.

What’s next for Medicaid and Medicare when it comes to dental benefits?

Medicare and Medicaid have made great strides during their 50-year existence, but there is still room for improvement, especially when it comes to dental benefits. Many people still end up in the emergency room for lack of any other access.

Status report: How employees feel about their benefits

Employees are ill-prepared for a medical emergency, interested in expanded insurance offerings and willing to take pay cuts for better benefits.

Must-know tips for clinical quality measure reporting

Clinical quality measure (CQM) reporting demonstrates meaningful use in Medicare and Medicaid electronic health records (EHRs) incentive programs. Get information and recommendations on CQM usage for your practice.