Attorneys--and not just health care experts--are urgently needed to provide their expertise and voice during this critical time when states are choosing whether to add the new Medicaid eligibility category available under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Legal services managers should consider re-prioritizing program resources during this critical time.

To address these challenges, the Clearinghouse Review team of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law hosted a webinar on October 9, 2012. Topics included:

• The ACA’s new Medicaid eligibility category and the Supreme Court’s ruling on this provision;
• The enormous impact that filling this gap in Medicaid coverage can have on legal services clients--not just on their healthcare, but in many aspects of their lives and opportunities;
• Examples of practical advocacy strategies that legal services attorneys (in all types of programs) can engage in to ensure that their state implements this new Medicaid eligibility category; and
• Available resources to make this happen, including next steps.

Panelists for the webinar included: Jane Perkins, of the National Health Law Program; Gordon Bonnyman, of the Tennessee Justice Center; Betsy Havens, of Florida Legal Services and John Bouman, of the Shriver Center.

Slides (PDF format)

Questions and Answers

Resources

• National Health Law Program's Medicaid Expansion Toolbox
• National Health Law Program Advocate's Guide to the Medicaid Program
• Supreme Court decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius
• National Health Law Program, 50 Reasons Medicaid Expansion Is Good for Your State 
• Congressional Budget Office estimate that health reform will save $109 billion in projected growth over 10 years
• Congressional Budget Office, Updated Estimates for the Insurance Coverage Provisions of the Affordable Care Act
• Congressional Budget Office, Estimates for the Insurance Coverage Provisions of the Affordable Care Act Updated for the Recent Supreme Court Decision
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, How Health Reform's Medicaid Expansion Will Affect State Budgets (July 2012)

Government websites

• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• Medicaid.gov
• HealthCare.gov

Other websites

• Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
• Families USA Foundation
• American Public Health Association's Health Reform website
• Herndon Alliance on how to talk to the public about health reform

Other Resources

• Jane Perkins, The Supreme Court’s ACA Decision and its Implication for Medicaid (July 2012)
• Government Accountability Office, Medicaid Expansion: States’ Implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Aug. 2012)
• Urban Institute, State Progress toward Health Reform Implementation: Slower Moving States Have Much to Gain (Jan. 2012)
• HealthAffairs, Ready, Set, Plan, Implement: Executing the Expansion of Medicaid (Mar. 2012)
• Bazelon Center, Take Advantage of New Opportunities to Expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (July 2012)
• SFGate, Medicaid Expansion Refusal Hurts Hospitals (Aug. 2, 2012)
• Urban Institute, Considerations in Assessing State-Specific Fiscal Effects of the ACA’s Medicaid Expansion (Aug. 2012)
• Families USA, Medicaid’s Success: Good Care (Aug. 2012)
• Families USA, Investing in Medicaid Contributes to Better Education (Aug. 2012)
• Kaiser Family Foundation, States Getting a Jump Start on Health Reform’s Medicaid Expansion
• Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, Medicaid Coverage and Spending in Health Reform: National and State‐by‐State Results for Adults at or Below 133% FPL (May 2010)
• Kaiser Family Foundation, State Budget under the Federal Health Reform: The Extent and Causes of Variations and Estimated Impacts (Feb. 2011)
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, How Health Reform’s Medicaid Expansion Will Impact State Budgets (July 25, 2012) 
• Congressional Budget Office, Estimates for the Insurance Coverage Provisions of the Affordable Care Act Updated for the Recent Supreme Court Decision (July 2012)
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Guidance on Analyzing and Estimating the Cost of Expanding Medicaid (Aug. 9, 2012)
• Congressional Research Service, Selected Issues Related to the Effect of NFIB vs. Sebelius on the Medicaid Expansion Requirements in Section 2001 of the Affordable Care Act (July 16, 2012)
• HealthAffairs, Medicaid Expansion Under Health Reform May Increase Service Use and Improve Access for Low-Income Adults with Diabetes (Jan. 2012)
• HealthAffairs, The Affordable Care Act’s Coverage Expansions Will Reduce Differences in Uninsurance Rates by Race and Ethnicity (May 2012)
• Kaiser Family Foundation, How Will the Medicaid Expansion for Adults Impact Eligibility and Coverage? (July 2012)
• The New England Journal of Medicine, Morality and Access to Care among Adults after State Medicaid Expansion (July 25, 2012)
• HealthAffairs, Increase in Federal Match Associated with Significant gains in Coverage for Children through Medicaid and CHIP (Aug. 20, 2012)
• Urban Institute, Opting in to the Medicaid Expansion under the ACA: Who are the Uninsured Adults Who Could Gain Health Insurance Coverage (Aug. 2012)
• Urban Institute, Opting Out of the Medicaid Expansion Under the ACA: How Many Uninsured Adults Would not Be Eligible for Medicaid? (July 5, 2012)