Holding Steady, Looking Ahead: Annual Findings of State Actions on Medicaid and CHIP

The 10th annual report offers an overview of state actions on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage during 2010. This information includes states’ approaches to eligibility rules, enrollment and renewal practices, and cost sharing practices in Medicaid and CHIP.

The report finds that 49 states maintained or made targeted improvements in their eligibility rules in 2010, with a total of 13 states expanding eligibility and 14 states making improvements in enrollment and renewal procedures. Arizona and New Jersey were the only two states to trim back eligibility. The authors of the report credit the federal government for this stability; the federal government decided both to provide temporary Medicaid fiscal relief to states through June 2011, and to maintain Medicaid and CHIP eligibility rules until more provisions of the health reform law go into effect.

While states have made progress in expanding coverage for children, only one state, Colorado, expanded Medicaid coverage for parents. According to the report, this leaves most uninsured, low-income parents without affordable coverage until 2014, when the health reform expansion goes into effect.

The report was published in January 2011 by the Center for Children and Families, an independent, nonpartisan policy and research center that focuses on health coverage for children and families. CCF is based out of Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute.
 

Read the report.