Popular with voters, more conservative states push for Medicaid expansion

Dec 10, 2018
One of the big winners in November’s midterm election was public health insurance coverage – specifically expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
A man casts his midterm ballot on Nov. 6, 2018 at Briles Schoolhouse in Peoria Township, Kansas.
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What does public charge proposal mean for hospitals that treat immigrants?

Dec 10, 2018
Today is the final day for comment for the Trump administration’s public charge proposal that would make it harder for immigrants to qualify for citizenship if they’ve used public benefits, including SNAP, public housing and Medicaid. Immigrants who’ve received cash assistance or long-term medical care already have a strike against them when they apply for […]
Immigrants make up roughly 12 percent of the population in this country, but account for just 8.6 percent of heath care expenditures. 
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Conservative states embrace Obamacare provisions

Nov 8, 2018
Since its inception, the Affordable Care Act has faced fierce Republican efforts to dismantle it. But on Tuesday three of the country’s most conservative states voted to adopt a key provision of the ACA. In Utah, Nebraska and Idaho, voters approved ballot measures to expand Medicaid health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of lower-income […]
Protestors carry signs as they demonstrate against proposed cuts to Medical and Medicare outside San Francisco city hall on Sept. 21, 2011.
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Voters in three red states approve expansion of Medicaid

Nov 7, 2018
Democrats won the House. Republicans secured their hold on the Senate. And there was another winner in Tuesday’s elections: Medicaid. States had the choice under the Affordable Care Act to expand it. Some did, but some conservative states chose not to. Voters in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah elected to expand Medicaid. Voters also elected Medicaid […]

Arkansas phasing in work requirements for those on Medicaid

Aug 7, 2018
Arkansas is at the forefront of a national experiment to see whether requiring work for health care coverage helps lift people out of poverty. So far, the state’s plan has seen low compliance among beneficiaries who may soon see themselves fall off the Medicaid rolls. Out of the around 10,000 people who were supposed to […]
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The census adds a citizenship question for the first time since 1950

Mar 27, 2018
Every 10 years, the government takes an accounting of us. Ideally, every one of us. And that population count — the U.S. Census — determines a lot of things, like how many seats your state has in the House of Representatives, and how much federal money is doled out to local communities for important services […]

Ten states to seek work requirements for Medicaid recipients

Jan 11, 2018
The Trump administration is offering states a path to impose new work requirements for some people who get health insurance under Medicaid, the program that serves 68 million primarily low-income, elderly and disabled Americans. This is a historic shift. Never in Medicaid’s 52 years have people had to work in order to get health insurance. […]

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Major shift as Trump opens way for Medicaid work requirement

Advocates for low-income people say work has never been a requirement for Medicaid, originally intended as a health program for the poor and disabled.
President Donald Trump listens to Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service, during a Women in Healthcare panel in the Roosevelt Room at the White House March 22, 2017 in Washington, D.C.
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Shaky CHIP funding puts kids' well-being on the line in Alabama

Dec 22, 2017
Temporary stopgap funding for CHIP was passed, but children's access to health care is still at risk.
“If we don't take care of our children then we're going to have sicker adults," says pediatrician Marsha Raulerson.
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After taxes, what’s next for the GOP?

Dec 19, 2017
Forget the tax overhaul. That’s old news. Republicans are already looking ahead to their next goal: cutting Medicare, Medicaid and other programs like food stamps. They’re calling it “entitlement reform.” Click the audio player above to hear the full story.