The Ninth Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act’s Passage

March 28, 2019

The Affordable Care Act celebrated its 9th anniversary on March 23, 2019.  On March 25th, the Trump administration asked a federal appeals court to overturn the law in its entirety by affirming a lower court ruling.  Some 21 million peoplewill lose low-cost insurance coverage, tens of millions could face outright denial of coverage at any price as a result of pre-existing conditions, two million young adults will be kicked off their parents’ insurance plans, and the cost of coverage will soar for millions of Medicare beneficiaries.

Noted Public Health Researchers File Brief in Support of Kentucky Medicaid Work Challenge

January 24, 2019

A “friend of the court” brief available on this website was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to urge the court to block implementation of the Kentucky HEALTH proposal that would require Medicaid beneficiaries to work, volunteer or train for a job to retain their health coverage.

Critique of a Flawed Analysis about Medicaid Work Requirements

January 15, 2019

A deeply flawed analysis by the Buckeye Institute claims that requiring low-income Medicaid beneficiaries to work, a policy promoted by the Trump Administration, will increase their incomes. Essentially, the report compares childless Medicaid adult participants who currently work more than 20 hours a week, the amount required by most work requirement states, with those who work less.

Updated estimate of impacts of Kentucky’s Medicaid work experiment on health centers

January 10, 2019

In a previous analysis, we estimated the effects of widespread Medicaid disenrollment under Kentucky’s approved Medicaid work experiment on that state’s community health centers. In that analysis, we found that because Medicaid represents such a significant proportion of health center funding, deep eligibility reductions under the experiment could be expected to trigger significant revenue losses that, in turn, would cause major reductions in health care capacity, clinical and patient support staffing and ultimately, the number of patients served.

Milken Institute School of Public Health Researchers Urge Withdrawal of Public Charge Rule

December 7, 2018

“We strongly urge the Department of Homeland Security to withdraw the proposed rule,” say a group of 26 public health, medicine, nursing and public policy scholars and practitioners from the George Washington University (GW) in an official comment submitted to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen. The proposed rule would cause many legal immigrants to be designated as “public charges,” which federal authorities could use to prohibit them from becoming permanent residents, to adjust their immigration status or even to keep them from re-entering the United States.

Noted Public Health Researchers File Brief in Support of Arkansas Medicaid Work Challenge

November 17, 2018

Forty public health scholars recently filed a public health “friend of the court” amicus brief in support of three Arkansas Medicaid beneficiaries who are challenging the state’s Medicaid work requirements. The group included six Deans and Associate Deans at schools of public health, public policy and public administration.

The projected effects of the Arkansas Medicaid work requirement demonstration on community health centers

November 1, 2018

In June 2018, Arkansas became the first state in the nation to implement a Medicaid work demonstration. Two recent blogs examined the enrollment and economic impact of the work demonstration.

GW Milken Institute School of Public Health Researchers Comment on Virginia’s Proposed Medicaid Work Experiment

October 20, 2018

Fourteen faculty and researchers from the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) officially submitted comments today in response to the state of Virginia’s proposed Medicaid work experiment.

Newly Released Census Figures Show Nearly 500,000 More Uninsured

September 14, 2018

New data released by the U.S. Census Bureau show that 28.5 million people did not have health insurance in 2017. As officials note, the change – actually a slight uptick from the previous year – is not statistically significant.

Speaking for the Record: The Public Health Implications of Medicaid Work Experiments

August 17, 2018

In June, a federal district court ruled in Stewart v Azar that the Health and Human Services Secretary acted unlawfully in approving Kentucky’s Medicaid work demonstration, because he never even considered the issue that lies at the heart of any federally-sanctioned experiment carried our pursuant to § 1115 of the Social Security Act – how the demonstration will promote the objectives of the program that is the subject of the experiment.  In Medicaid’s case, that objective is to give people medical assistance – the means by which health care becomes affordable.