Seven nationwide well being care and advocacy organizations as we speak referred to as on
“When people with Medicaid and CHIP experience gaps in their coverage, they are less likely to get the health care they need when they need it, which negatively impacts their health,” stated
The insurance policies would permit kids to maintain their Medicaid and CHIP protection for a 12 months, no matter momentary modifications in household earnings and different circumstances; require a 12 months of postpartum protection for folks on Medicaid and CHIP who give beginning; make CHIP funding everlasting; decrease gaps in protection and behavioral and bodily take care of folks leaving jails and prisons; and enhance vaccination entry for adults on Medicaid.
“Congressional action to boost access to Medicaid and CHIP coverage is urgently needed to protect the health of women and children,” stated
Coalition members calling for inclusion of Medicaid and CHIP insurance policies in
The coalition beforehand hosted a hill briefing and despatched a sign-on letter to
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To: The Honorable
The Honorable
The Honorable
The Honorable
Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Majority
We, the undersigned organizations, urge the inclusion of the next 5 Medicaid and CHIP insurance policies because the
1. Medicaid and CHIP Continuous Eligibility for Children. We ask that you simply think about the detrimental influence on kids’s well being after they cycle on and off of Medicaid and CHIP, a phenomenon referred to as “churn.” These modifications in well being protection result in gaps in vital bodily and behavioral well being care. Providing steady eligibility for youngsters would assist mitigate this by permitting younger folks to stay enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP for 12 months, no matter modifications in household earnings or different circumstances. Currently, fewer than 30 states have adopted the state choice by providing 12-month steady eligibility to all kids enrolled in CHIP and/or Medicaid. If each state had been to implement this bipartisan coverage, it will make a dramatic distinction in the lives of thousands and thousands of kids and households.
2. Medicaid and CHIP Postpartum Coverage. Nearly half of all births in the US are coated by Medicaid. Unfortunately, in comparison with these with non-public insurance coverage, Medicaid enrollees had an 82 p.c increased threat of maternal dying and morbidity. The Medicaid program’s enlargement below the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been linked to notable good points in maternal well being outcomes, notably for non-Hispanic Black girls and inside the first 60 days following childbirth when Medicaid protection presently expires for a lot of postpartum folks. Still, far too many individuals expertise protection and care gaps both throughout their pregnancies or in the weeks and months that comply with giving rise to well being dangers and exacerbating racial and ethnic disparities in maternal well being. Currently, solely 27 states supply this protection. Considering the disaster our nation is presently dealing with relative to maternal well being points, we urge the
4. Medicaid Reentry Act. The “Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy” prohibits using Medicaid funds for providers to in any other case eligible people who find themselves incarcerated in jails, prisons, detention facilities, or different correctional amenities. This results in critical gaps in well being protection and entry to wanted care when people are reentering their communities from incarceration. These gaps contribute to increased recidivism and are notably dangerous – and infrequently lethal — for the big proportion of previously incarcerated people with psychological sickness or substance use problems. Allowing eligible incarcerated people to obtain providers coated by Medicaid 30-days previous to their launch from jail or jail will increase entry to important well being providers, lower recidivism and enhance well being outcomes for people reentering the neighborhood. Furthermore, by investing in prevention, the bipartisan Medicaid Reentry Act/2 will present financial savings on healthcare and legal justice prices for jurisdictions throughout the nation.
5. Adult Vaccination Access. Adults want immunizations to guard them from getting and spreading critical infectious illnesses that end result in incapacity, missed work, medical payments, lack of ability to take care of members of the family, hospitalization, or dying. For low-income people, Medicaid is the first supply of protection for vaccines. Medicaid protection and reimbursement insurance policies range enormously by state, creating obstacles to entry that impede efforts to enhance vaccination charges amongst at-risk populations who’re low-income. In states which have expanded Medicaid, applications are required to cowl beneficial vaccines for gratis, which is in step with industrial medical health insurance protection requirements, in non-expansion states, folks with conventional Medicaid protection need to pay for a similar beneficial vaccines. Only 22 Medicaid applications cowl all 13
Our coalition urges the
We thanks on your consideration and management on these vital measures. We stay up for working with you and the
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Sincerely,
National Organizations
Community Catalyst