Tag: Medicaid

Congress: 9 Million Children Are Counting On You To Extend CHIP

Today, we call on Congress to maintain its commitment to existing public health programs who’s funding expired on September 30 – Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and Maternal, Infant, and Child Home Visitation (MICHV). Together, these programs ensure children, pregnant women, and their families can access the health services and supports they need to be healthy. Specifically, CHIP provides health insurance for 9 million children nationwide and about 370,000 pregnant women.

We are encouraged by bipartisan action in both the Senate and the House to reauthorize CHIP—and we urge Congress to quickly pass legislation that maintains our nation’s commitment to a robust public health system. However, we strongly oppose any effort that cuts funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund, limits access to Medicaid, or jeopardizes young children and their families’ access to the health services they need to thrive.

Congress must make the health and wellbeing of young children and their families a priority. To do this, it must extend funding for CHIP and maintain important investments in all other public health programs that serve these vulnerable populations.

5 Reasons Why The Latest Effort To Repeal The Affordable Care Act Is Bad For Moms And Babies

While the future of the Senate Republican’s latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is uncertain, one thing is very clear – the Graham-Cassidy bill is bad for moms and babies.

Here’s why:

  1. Maternity, newborn and pediatric care are at risk.
    States would be able to waive the essential health benefits – like prenatal, maternity and pediatric care – currently covered under the ACA. That’s why even physician groups like the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) are strongly opposing the bill.

    Essentially, this bill could mean a return to a pre-ACA health system when 75% of plans on the individual market did not include maternity coverage. Women would be left to decide between going without needed health services or paying out-of-pocket. That’s a decision no women should be forced to make.

  2. Women could pay more for less health coverage.
    Health plans could charge more for comprehensive coverage. This means more women would be forced to choose between buying cheap bare-bones insurance packages that don’t cover their needs – and paying out-of-pocket for other services (like maternity care) – or paying exorbitant prices for health plans that provide the coverage they need.

    We’d be stepping back in time, before the passage of the ACA, when women could be charged more for their health insurance just because they are women.

  3. Pregnancy could become a pre-existing condition (again).
    Insurers would be able to decide what is – and is not – a pre-existing condition, and then charge more accordingly. Just like before the passage of the ACA, women could be denied coverage (or charged a lot more) for health insurance just for having given birth or being of child-bearing age.

    In fact, according to the Center for American Progress, insurers could charge pregnant women over $17,000 more, putting health insurance out of reach for millions of women – right when they need it the most.

  4. The Medicaid program would be gutted.
    About one TRILLION dollars in federal funding for Medicaid would be cut. Medicaid is a critical source of health insurance for millions of low- and middle-income people. As the largest insurance program for women, it covers the cost of nearly half of all America’s births.

    Without Medicaid, women would become uninsured and lose access to the comprehensive health coverage that they desperately need. For those who could keep their Medicaid insurance, their coverage would likely shrink as states replace comprehensive health services with bare-bones coverage for maternity and infant health services.

  5. It hurts working families the most.
    The bill would end the financial assistance that makes purchasing health insurance possible for millions of America’s middle-income families. It repeals subsidies within ACA – subsidies that currently 85% of people purchasing insurance coverage on the marketplace receive.Coupled with the proposed cuts to Medicaid, the Graham-Cassidy bill would leave millions of Americans without their health insurance, according to analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Graham-Cassidy is not the health care plan that America’s moms and babies—and thus the country as a whole—need. It is time for all Members of Congress from both parties to work together to ensure women, infants and young children have access to comprehensive and affordable health care they need to thrive.

Bipartisanship Is Possible – And We Need It Now More Than Ever

For the past several months, 1,000 Days and its community has called on Congress to work together to ensure America’s women, infants and young children have access to the comprehensive and affordable health care they need to thrive. From sharing personal stories to engaging directly with Members of Congress, we’ve seen how the power of people can truly affect change. Together, we protected health insurance for America’s moms and babies.

But now, once again, we find ourselves at a crossroads for health care—and we need everyone to weigh in.

On one hand, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Finance Committee have put forward bipartisan legislation to support the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a crucial source of health insurance for millions of children across the U.S. Action is needed by September 30th to protect this important program. The introduction of this bill shows that health care can—and does—transcend partisan bickering.

On the other hand, Senate Republicans are making one last-ditch attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act through the Graham-Cassidy bill. If passed, this bill would prove disastrous for America’s moms and young children.

The Graham-Cassidy bill would strip away comprehensive coverage and result in millions of people—including women and children—losing their health insurance. This bill proposes to:

  • Clamp down on, and quickly eliminate, the federal funding that makes individual coverage affordable.
  • Reduce Medicaid coverage for millions of parents and children.
  • Put benefit decisions in the hands of states and insurance companies, including to allow them to charge more for people with pre-existing conditions.

In short, this bill is a major step backwards for children and their families.

1,000 Days calls on Congress to reject all proposals that repeal the Affordable Care Act and instead to support and quickly advance bipartisan action, like the CHIP legislation, that invests in women, children and America’s future.

The Senate Health Care Bill – A Misguided Plan for Health Care Reform

Yesterday – after weeks of negotiations obscured in secrecy – the Senate health care bill was finally unveiled. But this draft legislation puts the health of moms and babies at risk.

The Senate bill will force women, in particular, to pay more out-of-pocket costs to get the care that they need before, during and after pregnancy by giving states the ability to design health benefit packages—eliminating protections for essential health services such as maternity care, childbirth and newborn and pediatric care.

The Senate bill will eliminate health insurance for millions of America’s most vulnerable people, including children, by fundamentally changing how Medicaid is financed and rolling back Medicaid funding.

The Senate bill will force hard-working families to pay more for lower quality insurance, endangering the health and well-being of women, infants and young children across America.

While Senate leadership is trying to cut federal spending, they are doing so at the expense of Americans’ health.

This is misguided policy, at best.

1,000 Days urges senators to find real solutions for America’s health care needs and focus on building a healthcare system that ensures all mothers, babies and toddlers in America have the care they need to thrive.

The Senate is Closing in on a Health Repeal Bill, Albeit Secretly

Earlier this year, all anyone in Washington could talk about was health care and the Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As details of the House of Representative’s health care bill—the American Health Care Act (AHCA)—became clear, people all over the country were talking about it and speaking out in strong opposition.

Read our statement on the House-passed AHCA.

Over the last month, the process has moved over to the Senate, where Senate Leadership has been crafting their repeal bill behind closed doors. Aside from the 13 senators (all of whom are men) working on the bill, no one yet knows the details of the plan. All the other 87 senators—Republican and Democrat alike—have not been consulted. There have been no Committee hearings and no debate. What’s worse—the public has not been offered the opportunity to weigh-in on a bill that will impact every aspect of their health, and possibly their livelihoods.

Why all the secrecy? Likely because Senate Leaders know that the House passed a bill that was bad policy.

Let us be crystal clear: the AHCA is a bill that would leave moms, babies and all of us significantly worse off than we are today, putting our health and economic security at risk. The Congressional Budget office estimates that 23 million people will lose health coverage under the AHCA over the next 10 years, 14 million in just the first year alone. According to the Center on Budget and Policy, 3 million children will lose coverage, in large part due to the deep cuts to Medicaid, the primary source of health insurance for America’s most vulnerable families. It’s worth noting that Medicaid covers half of all births in the United States—about 2 million births a year.

What little we do know about the Senate proposal is that it will be just like the AHCA.

The Senate bill will likely still result in a dramatic increase in the number of people who are uninsured, sky-rocketing premiums and deep and fundamental cuts to Medicaid. Under any version of the bill, moms and babies across the country will be charged more for less coverage, putting life-saving services out of reach.

While Senate Leadership is crafting their repeal bill—perhaps hoping no one will notice or understand the impact before it goes to a vote—now is the time to stay engaged.

Our elected officials should be listening to America’s moms who understand the value of high quality and affordable health care for themselves and their babies.

What’s your experience with health care or health insurance? What are your concerns for the future? Share your thoughts and we’ll make sure to share them with policymakers here in Washington. They need to hear from all of us. Before it’s too late.

Trump’s Budget Cuts Will Harm Young Children and Families

At 1,000 Days, we believe that children are the foundation of a country’s greatness. When young children thrive, so do nations. It is why we are deeply concerned by the Trump Administration’s proposal to slash funding for basic nutrition, health and anti-poverty programs that give children here in the U.S. and around the world a strong start to life. By cutting vital domestic safety net programs and foreign assistance, the Trump Administration will not only weaken America’s foundation, it will also put vulnerable children and their families in harm’s way.

It is troubling to see that the President’s budget takes aim at programs that many hardworking American families of young children rely on to make ends meet: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (commonly known as food stamps or SNAP), the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). 1,000 Days is particularly concerned about cuts to SNAP because nearly HALF of families that participate in the program include at least one child under age 5. It is unconscionable that the Trump Administration would propose massive cuts to SNAP when nearly 1/3 of preschoolers in the U.S. rely on the program each month for their nutritional needs. We are also deeply troubled by the proposal to slash funding for Medicaid and CHIP which together serve the health care needs of almost HALF of all children under the age of 6 in the U.S. These programs are vital to ensuring that all kids in America have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

By proposing deep cuts to foreign assistance, the President’s budget will also hurt young children in some of the poorest countries throughout the world. Each year nearly 3 million children under age 5 die from malnutrition—a condition that is almost entirely preventable. The U.S. has been a leader in the fight against global malnutrition and America’s investments in life-saving programs to improve maternal and young child nutrition costs a fraction of a penny of every dollar spent by the U.S. government. There is little question that eliminating or scaling down U.S. global health, development and humanitarian efforts will cost lives and reverse more than a decade of progress against poverty and disease. These devastating cuts come at a time in which the world is facing severe famines and other humanitarian crises and when over 1 million children are at risk of dying from starvation.

The President’s budget proposal is not only mean-spirited, it is also short-sighted. It will fail to balance the federal budget and will actually cost more money in the long run as taxpayers contend with the sickness and suffering that cutting vital health and nutrition programs will create.

Americans deserve better than a federal budget that puts the health and well-being of young children and their families at risk. Congress must reject the President’s proposal and start over to build a budget that is worthy of our children and our true greatness as a nation.