Implementation of Significant Changes to Health Insurance Coverage for RI Children and Families

Read the paper "Rhode Island's Medicaid Proposal Would Put Beneficiaries At Risk and Undermine The Federal-State Partnership Could Set Dangerous Precedent for Other States" by Judith Solomon of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

New Data Show Increase Uninsured Children
August 26, 2008 - According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, 6.9% of Rhode Island children were uninsured in the three year period from 2005-2007, compared with 6.4% of children 2004-2006. Rhode Island ranks 11th in the nation for children's health insurance coverage. View the press release, and the data tables on children's health insurance coverage , prepared by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT.

Read Cindy Mann's statement  which applauds the decrease in the number of uninsured children in the United States, and calls for further improvement. Mann is the Executive Director of Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute.

DHS Announces Meetings Schedule For Public Updates and Feedback on Global Medicaid Waiver

Over the next five months, Director Alexander will host the Stakeholder Meetings as forums to provide updates on the status of the Global Consumer Choice Compact to Health wavier process and to obtain stakeholder feedback. The meetings will be held every other Friday from 10:30 - 12:00, beginning on September 19, 2008.  Click here to view the full meeting schedule.

Controversial Children's Health Insurance Directive Will Not Be Enforced; Advocates Say Full Rescission Needed
August 18, 2008- The "August 17th directive",  a measure intended to penalize states for enrolling children higher than 250% FPL in federal Medicaid programs, will not be enforced "at this time", according to CMS, the federal agency responsible for administering  SCHIP. Currently, Rhode Island is the only state deemed "in compliance" with the directive. Child health advocates such as the Georgetown Center for Children and Families (CCF), argue that not enforcing only buys states limited time from the directive's potentially harmful consequences to children. CCF has released a statement, arguing that as the "(affordability) gap has been growing this is the time to remove, not impose coverage barriers." They go on to ask for a "full rescission" of the directive. Read the content of the August 17th directive, CCF's analysis, and today's CCF press release.  

Children With Health Insurance Get Needed Care, While Uninsured Children Go Without
August 14, 2008- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released the report A Needed Lifeline: Chronically Ill Children and Public Health Insurance. The report shows that among chronically ill children (such as those with asthma or diabetes), having health insurance makes an enormous difference in whether children recieve the care they need. View the press release, download the report, or view an interactive map with state-by-state data.

Report Reviews 40 Years of a Medicaid Pediatric Policy
August 1, 2008- Researchers at Georgetown University's School of Medicine, in association with the Center for Health Care strategies, have released a new report on Medicaid's Early and Periodic Screening Diganostic Treatment (EPSDT) benefit. The report  provides an overview of EPSDT in light of a changing health care system, including changes made possible by the Defecit Reduction Act, and describes current state practices in implementing EPSDT within managed care. View the report, EPSDT at 40: Modernizing a Pediatric Health Policy to Reflect a Changing Health Care System.

Report Places Spotlight on Latino Children and the Health Coverage System.
July 29, 2008- A report published by the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) indicates that more than one in five Hispanic children are uninsured- nearly three times the rate of non-Hispanic White children. The report also analyzes the effect of barriers to care and access issues specific to the Latino community, with recommendations for policy makers to address the health coverage gap. View the report in its entirety here.

FamiliesUSA: Cutting Medicaid Hurts States' Bottom Lines
July 14, 2008- FamiliesUSA has published an Issue Brief entitled Precarious Position: States Must Balance Declining Revenues With a Growing Need for Medicaid. The Brief details the path many states, including Rhode Island, are taking  to reduce spending in order to address budget shortfalls. The brief argues that when states cut Medicaid- ("the safety net program that low-income working families need when they lose jobs or health coverage")- they lose federal funding, put themselves at risk for further budgeting shortfall, while harming the most vulnerable.

2008 Report on Key National Indicators of Child Well-Being Available Online
July 14, 2008 - The newly released America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2008 profiles the status of the nation's children and youth, presenting up-to-date federal statistics on a variety of issues in one convenient reference. According to the report, math and reading scores of fourth and eighth graders have increased, but also shows that the teen birth rate and the proportion of infants born at low birthweight have also risen.

Update: Safety Net for Children Protected
July 10, 2008 - The Senate approved the Supplemental Appropriations bill in June which includes a provision to place a moratorium on six of the seven contested Medicaid regulations issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that would have impacted children. The bill was subsequently signed by President Bush and ensures that the public safety net system for children is protected, extends unemployment insurance for 13 weeks, provides federal aid for the Gulf Coast and Midwest, and provides additional supports for veterans.

Video of RIte Care Works Day
July 2, 2008- The ABC 6 News Channel aired a story covering the RIte Care Works Day which took place at the statehouse on June 4th. Highlights of the story iniclude interviews with families insured by RIte care as well as local community advocates. The story can be viewed here.

Chartbook Offers State-by-State Comparison of Health Insurance Coverage Data
June 26, 2008- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has released its State Health Acces Profile Chartbook, detailing health insurance coverage data specific to states. The easy-to-use data sheets offer side-by-side comparison between up to three states. Users can view broad sets of health access data for the fifty states and the District of Colombia. Click here to view the Rhode Island data set.

Projo Article Highlights Immigrant Children Cut from RIte Care
June 16, 2008- Many RI children have lost their health insurance as state cuts begin to take effect. This Providence Journal article details the complex situation of some 2800 immigrant children whose coverage ceased on June 1. Many of the children have health problems including asthma, attention deficit disorder, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and bone cancer. 

Children's Health Impacted by FY '09 Budget
June 12, 2008- The RI House Finance Committee passed the FY '09 budget with significant implications for children's health, including changes to RIte Care coverage and appropriations for community health centers. The budget is now being transmitted to the House, for a full House vote within the next week to 10 days. After the House approves the budget, it moves to Senate Finance and then to the full Senate. View more budget highlights detailed.

RIte Care Works!
June 4, 2008 - In RI, the percentage of preventable hospitalizations for children enrolled in RIte Care decreased, while the percentage for unisured children more than doubled. Adults enrolled in RIte Care have the lowest rates of preventable hospitalizations according to Rhode Island KIDS COUNT's latest publication released during RIte Care Works Day at the RI State House.

New Commonwealth Fund report-RI Ranks Highly on Child Health
May 28, 2008 - Rhode Island is ranked in the top quartile of states for overall performance and in the top 7 states in giving children access to care and ensuring high-quality care in this new report published by The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System. The report examines variations among states' child health care systems, building on the State Scorecard.

Washington Post Sheds Light on Childhood Obesity
May 19-22, 2008 - The Washington Post's comprehensive five-part series, "Young Lives at Risk: Our Overweight Children" highlights an issue that affects nearly 25 million kids and teens in the United States. For the duration of the series, childhood obesity was Page 1 news. The Series on childhood obesity features insights from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and its grantees.

New Report on Health Insurance for RI Families
May 12, 2008 - Rhode Island’s rate of uninsured children (6.4%) was the 10th lowest in the U.S. in 2006, according to a recently released Rhode Island KIDS COUNT report, Health Insurance for Children and Families in Rhode Island. The U.S. rate of uninsured children is 11.1%.

Rhode Island and National Data
May 6, 2008 - This data from the National Survey of Children's Health, 2003 (NSCH) examines the physical and emotional health of children ages 0-17 years of age. Special emphasis is placed on factors that may relate to well-being of children, including medical homes, family interactions, parental health, school and after-school experiences, and safe neighborhoods.

The National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) provides a consistent source of both national- and state-level data on the size and characteristics of the population of CSHCN. The survey provides detailed information on the prevalence of CSHCN in the nation and in each state, the demographic characteristics of these children, the types of health and support services they and their families need, and their access to and satisfaction with the care they receive.

New!  Health Factbook Indicators' Factsheet 
Rhode Island KIDS COUNT released its annual publication on the well-being of children and families in RI, the 2008 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook. The Factbook reports on 62 indicators of child well-being across five subjects: Family and Community, Economic Well-Being, Health, Safety, and Education. Download the highlights in the Health Indicators.

Top 5 Reasons to Support RIte Care
March 27, 2008 - View the Top 5 Reasons to Support RIte Care released by the RIte Care WORKS Coalition. The report highlights the positive health outcomes, cost-efficiency and strong public support of Rhode Island's health insurance program for low-income children and families.

Budget Cuts: Implications for Health Insurance for Children and Families in RI
February 21, 2008 - The proposed budgets cuts related to health insurance for children and families in Rhode Island in the FY '08 and FY '09 budgets will likely result in declines in immunization rates, lead poisoning screening rates, and other critical health measures. Download the latest summary and analysis of the proposed budget cuts prepared by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT .

House Vote on SCHIP Fails
January 24, 2008 - The U.S. House of Representatives failed for a second time to override President Bush’s veto of the bill that would have reauthorized the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for the next 5 years and expanded its reach to 10 million additional children. However, in late December 2007, the Congress approved and the President signed a bill that provides an extension of the current SCHIP program through March 31, 2009. This extension bill protects coverage for currently enrolled children and assures level funding for SCHIP programs in every state.

SCHIP Extended Until 2009
The Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007, among other things, extends the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) until March 31, 2009. The Act provides funding for states to continue covering the 6 million children enrolled in the program. The bill passed by unanimous consent in the Senate on December 18; the next day the House approved the measure.

The Act does not addressed the directive issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The directive effectively caps eligibility for SCHIP at 250% of the federal poverty line, which is $42,925 a year for a family of three in 2007. An SCHIP reauthorization bill would that would have added $35 billion to the program over 5 years and provided health insurance to 10 million children was vetoed. The House has scheduled a vote on overriding the President’s second veto for January 23, the same week as the State of the Union address.

For more information read: Bush Approves SCHIP Extension, Hopes for Expanded Children's Health Insurance are Dashed in 2007 or visit www.voices.org.

Dental Providers Accepting Medical Assistance (Medicaid and RIte Care) List Updated
December 17, 2007 - This list can be used to find a dental provider who accepts Medical Assistance in Rhode Island. There are two versions - one in English and one in Spanish. The new versions include contact information for the new dental centers that have opened since the last version in 2005, as well as contact information for the RIte Smiles program

Rhode Island KIDS COUNT Celebrates Children’s Health At Annual Luncheon
November 19, 2007 - Among the positive trends in children’s health are that Rhode Island ranks #1 best for prenatal care and #1 best for the child death rate (with the lowest rates of deaths for children ages 1 to 14), and in the top 10 for timely childhood immunizations. In 2006, 93.6% of Rhode Island’s children under age 18 were insured, compared to 89.0% of children nationally. The event was attended by over a 100 community leaders and policymakers. View the press release.

RIte Care Health Insurers Ranked Among America’s Best Medicaid Plans
October 26, 2007 - For the third consecutive year, U.S. News and World Report and the National Committee for Quality Assurance rated each of Rhode Island’s three RIte Care Health Plans among the top ten Medicaid managed care plans in the country in a joint report released in October 2007. RIte Care’s three health plans are Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island (ranked 2nd), Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island (ranked 3rd) and UnitedHealthcare (ranked 9th).

Policy Roundtable Focuses on Rhode Island’s Uninsured
September 12, 2007 - The percentage of uninsured Rhode Islanders under the age of 65 increased from 6.9% in 2000 to 13.3% in 2005. The percentage of uninsured children in Rhode Island is 6.4% compared with 11.0% in the U.S. RI leaders gathered to discuss trends in health insurance coverage among children and adults. Recent data on the uninsured from the U.S. Census Bureau and a new report by Rhode Island’s Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner which highlights a growing trend in the number of uninsured Rhode Islanders was highlighted. View the press release.

Kaiser Report Highlights Rhode Island Health Insurance Data
September 2007 - The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report cites that the Enrollment in Rhode Island's Medicaid Program Dropped by 6,000 in Past Year.

 Preterm Births in Rhode Island
June 21, 2007 - According to the Preterm Births in Rhode Island Issue Brief, from 2001-2005, one in eight (11.8%) infants born in Rhode Island was born preterm. For more information., download the Issue Brief, press release or the article in the Providence Journal.

Children’s Health Coverage: States Moving Forward
May 4, 2007 - This recently released report by the Georgetown Center for Children and Families details steps taken by states, including Rhode Island, to strengthen and expand children’s health coverage. View the report.

Southern Institute on Children and Families Releases Report on CKF Promising Practices
The Covering Kids & Families (CKF) National Program Office at the Southern Institute on Children and Families has released Covering Kids & Families: Promising practices from the nation’s single largest effort to insure eligible children and adults through public health coverage. CKF Promising Practices features CKF statewide and local coalition promising practices related to the CKF strategies of outreach, simplification and coordination, and includes process improvement examples.

RI is Number One, Best in the Nation for Percentage of Women Receiving Timely Prenatal Care
April 30, 2007 - The online report, The Right Start for America’s Newborns: City and State Trends, which tracks U.S. birth information across states and the 50 largest cities has been updated. This year the report includes the percent of babies born to foreign born mothers for states and cities as well as national data on birth outcomes by race and ethnicity.

 

April 23-29, 2007 - In advance of "Cover the Uninsured Week," the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released the report Whose Kids Are Covered?The 12-page report contains some excellent Rhode Island data, in comparison with all other states. 

Health Care Coverage in America: Understanding the Issues and Proposed Solutions provides an overview of how Americans get health coverage, why so many don't have coverage, and what could be done to ease the problem. The 24-page guide, updated for Cover the Uninsured Week includes graphs, a glossary of health-coverage terms, and links to sources of additional information.

Children's Health Care a Top Priority for Rhode Islanders
March 5, 2007 - 83% of RI voters surveyed favor expanding RIte Care so that every uninsured child in RI can get health care coverage according to a New England-wide poll on children’s health care coverage. Read the RI report and the media release for more information. Rhode Island KIDS COUNT and the New England Alliance for Children’s Health released findings from the recent survey at St. Joseph Hospital.

Leading Child Health Groups Present Key Priorities for SCHIP Reauthorization
December 12, 2006 - The American Academy of Pediatrics, March of Dimes, and the National Association of Children's Hospitals joined the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families today to release a report that identifies key issues that must be addressed in reauthorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). They also called on federal policymakers to make SCHIP reauthorization a top 2007 priority in the 110th Congress. Read the report, press release or presentation.

SCHIP Funding Shortfall Partially Addressed
Last minute negotiations between House and Senate leaders led to the passage of the SCHIP Shortfall Reduction Package, included in a measure extending the authority of the National Institutes of Health (H.R. 6164). Seventeen states were projected to face a shortfall if Congress did not act before they adjourned this year. H.R. 6164 helps some children retain their State Children’s Health Insurance coverage by redistributing remaining FY 2004 and some FY 2005 SCHIP dollars to nine* of the 17 states projected to experience a shortfall during the next six months.

10 Recommendations to Improve the Health of Babies in RI
December 5, 2006 - The RI Taskforce on Premature Births released 10 actionable recommendations with next steps that have the potential to improve the health of babies in RI by decreasing the rate of preterm births in RI, and decreasing morbidity and mortality associated with preterm births.

Increases to Health Insurance Premiums Cause Hardship
October 2006 - A publication by the Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner, the 2005 Rhode Island Employer Health Insurance Survey Report confirms what employees and employers have been feeling: increases to health insurance premiums have become difficult to bear.

Teen Motherhood at Record Low in United States 
September 8, 2006 -  Teen Motherhood at Record Low in United States, the second Data Snapshot in the KIDS COUNT series, highlights statistics on teen motherhood across U.S. states. The data in this Snapshot and more than 100 other indicators of child well-being can be found in the KIDS COUNT State-Level Data Online System.

WRNI Airs Series on Children's Health in RI
September 2006 - The Children's Health in Rhode Island Series contains segments on asthma, mental health, oral health, and obesity. The oral health segment highlights the work of Rhode Island KIDS COUNT in that area.

New Report Discusses Key Components of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005
A new Commonwealth Fund report, The Deficit Reduction Act [DRA] of 2005: An Overview of Key Medicaid Provisions and Their Implications for Early Childhood Development Services, discusses key parts of the DRA legislation related to eligibility, cost-sharing, premiums, the benefit package, and targeted case management, including the latest guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Release of New Health Insurance Coverage and Poverty Data
August 29, 2006 - According to the latest Census Data, 19.5% of Rhode Island children under age 18 live in poverty. The percentage of Rhode Island children without health insurance has increased from 5.8% to 6.6%, according to the most recent three-year averages of the Current Population Survey. Access to health care helps to improve outcomes for poor children. Rhode Island now ranks 10th in the country for the rate of children without health insurance. Download the Press Release. Learn more about Poverty in RI by downloading the Issue Brief on Poverty released in January 2006 and its companion document.

Teen Motherhood at Record Low in United States 
September 8, 2006 -  Teen Motherhood at Record Low in United States, the second Data Snapshot in the KIDS COUNT series, highlights statistics on teen motherhood across U.S. states. The data in this Snapshot and more than 100 other indicators of child well-being can be found in the KIDS COUNT State-Level Data Online System.

New Report: The Role of Medicaid and SCHIP as an Insurance Safety Net
August 2006 - Covering Kids & Families is pleased to announce a new Issue Brief, The Role of Medicaid and SCHIP as an Insurance Safety Net, that highlights the importance of public health coverage programs. The report uses data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey to document the decline in health coverage from employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) for low-income adults and children between 2000 and 2004.

Stabilizing Coverage for Children and Families
This new Fund report examines the extent, causes, and consequences of instability in public coverage programs for children and families, and presents strategies to stabilize public program coverage. Findings are drawn from a variety of sources, including national and state-based studies, roundtable discussions and interviews with stakeholders and experts, and an examination of the affect of state and local policies on instability and churning in four states: Louisiana, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington.