Senior Director of Health Policy at @FamiliesUSA. Former Group Director in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Oct 14, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
As reported by @ddiamond last week, starting this week the Trump administration is spending $20 million of taxpayer money mailing out almost 40 million letters promising seniors $200 discount cards. I think we're underestimating the potential impact of this illegal abuse. /Thread
2. The whole scheme would cost $8 billion, none of it authorized by Congress. But just mailing the announcement is a $20 million direct mail campaign to seniors funded by taxpayers. For comparison, the Trump campaign's ~entire broadcast ad budget for September~ was $20 million.
Mar 3, 2019 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Thread: we're seeing further confirmation of significant momentum against Medicaid work requirements/lockouts waivers. Summary is that the combination of successful litigation and terrible outcomes in Arkansas has stopped new adoptions and started to reverse existing ones.
2. You could see this developing over the last few months--I wrote about it here: familiesusa.org/blog/2018/11/t… and here: healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hbl…. Now it is playing out on the ground in the states.
Nov 9, 2018 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Long-awaited CMS proposed re-regulation of Medicaid managed care is now up on Federal Register: s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspect… Two significant areas of concern on first read.
2. First, the proposed rule turns what were already limited federal standards for how states measure the adequacy of plan networks into a completely open-ended requirement to essentially just file some description of a standard.
Oct 11, 2018 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Thread on the long-leaked "public charge" rule that is now up for public comment. We have a short analysis up here that summarizes the rule. I wanted to into more depth here on the major health implications. familiesusa.org/product/public…2. This rule--if finalized--would penalize LAWFUL immigrants for using a wide swath of income-based public services and programs. Below is the list from the rule.
Apr 16, 2018 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
Thread: Unless the courts step in, the number of uninsured is going to go up _dramatically_ in 2018 due to legally questionable Trump administration regulations and waiver approvals. A number of analyses have come out in the last few weeks that are adding up to a big number.
2. Medicaid waivers designed to restrict coverage to adults: PWC just found that over 1.7 million low income adults are now subject to these waivers: goo.gl/tECKKT. And @GWpublichealth finds that a large majority are likely to lose coverage: goo.gl/X9JsDE.
