Backgrounder posted July 1, 2010 by Edmund Haislmaier, Brian Blase
Obamacare: Impact on States
Abstract: If implemented as enacted, Obamacare will impose significant new Medicaid costs on states and constitute a major federal usurpation of long-standing state authority in regulating private insurance. This will be expensive and disruptive for those Americans who rely on individual or employer-based insurance…
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WebMemo posted November 21, 2008 by Dennis Smith
The Next SCHIP Debate: The Case for Honest Numbers
Reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program
(SCHIP) will take on new and heightened importance early next year,
some of which will reflect on how the congressional leaders manage
their respective chambers as well as deal with the low-income
children the program was designed to serve. This much is clear:
Congress cannot deliver last…
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Backgrounder posted September 9, 2008 by Dennis Smith
SCHIP: How Congress Can Avoid Repeating Last Year's Mistakes
Congress may soon return to reauthorization of the State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Extension of the
popular program should have been a simple, quick, and bipartisan
victory last year, but policy took a back seat to politics and
raw emotion, leaving confusion even among proponents on both
sides of the aisle. There was little…
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WebMemo posted July 16, 2008 by Dennis Smith
SCHIP Reauthorization: Preparing for Another Round in Congress
In the coming weeks, Congress may once again debate the
reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program
(SCHIP). By doing so, congressional leaders would have an
opportunity to take a fresh approach to this issue and avoid the
serious flaws in last year's legislation.
Extension of the popular program last year should have been…
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Backgrounder posted May 15, 2008 by Sven Larson
Federal Funds and State Fiscal Independence
As President Ronald Reagan reminded the American people in his 1981 inaugural address, the U.S. Constitution separates government powers so that the voters can hold government officials accountable. Government power is separated both horizontally among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches and vertically among the federal, state, and local…
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WebMemo posted February 12, 2008 by Nina Owcharenko
The President's Proposals for Medicaid and SCHIP: One Step Forward, One Step Back
President George W. Bush's fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget proposal
for Medicaid is consistent with the Administration's overall
efforts to address the growing entitlement crisis. These efforts
are weakened, however, by the proposal for a dramatic increase in
funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
Congress should embrace the President's proposals for Medicaid…
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WebMemo posted December 6, 2007 by Edmund Haislmaier, Greg D'Angelo
Expanding SCHIP: Not the Best Option for States
While Washington has been deadlocked over reauthorization of the
State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), many governors
and state policymakers have actively supported Congress not only
reauthorizing the program but expanding it further to include
uninsured children in families with incomes between 200 percent and
300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). State lawmakers
tend…
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WebMemo posted December 3, 2007 by Nina Owcharenko
The SCHIP Bill: Why the Premium Assistance Provisions Won't Work
Skeptics of the latest version of legislation (H.R. 3963) to
expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) should
not be swayed by claims that substantial changes were made to
improve premium assistance for private insurance. Key obstacles
remain. Until those problems are solved, the proposed premium
assistance provisions in SCHIP will fall short, and…
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