Washington, D.C. – Today, the Biden administration announced a final rule that improves how millions of Americans, including children, apply for and renew coverage through Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Basic Health Program (BHP). The rule standardizes enrollment and renewal processes nationwide and applies consumer protections from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to Medicaid and CHIP enrollees, like banning lifetime limits and waiting periods.
This action to ensure more families have access to affordable coverage and cut paperwork requirements is in direct contrast to Republicans’ proposals, which gut funding for Medicaid and impose more red tape and bureaucratic barriers to make it harder for children to stay covered. For example, in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis is fighting to rip CHIP coverage away from children if their parents can’t pay their premiums on time. The Republican party is dead set on raising the cost of health care for working families, denying coverage to millions of people, and slashing funding for critical programs.
The Biden administration also announced that over 17 million children are now protected from losing coverage thanks to the new law that keeps eligible kids on Medicaid covered for at least a full year before needing to renew their coverage.
In response, Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach issued the following statement:
“President Biden is cutting burdensome red tape, waiting periods, and annual and lifetime limits that make it harder for families to stay covered and access health care. Today’s action builds on key steps taken by the Biden administration to lower health care and prescription drug costs and ensure American families can get the care they need to stay healthy. While Republicans fight to cut Medicaid and kick people off of coverage, the Biden administration is fighting tooth and nail to lower costs and make affordable health care a reality for families across the nation.”
Background
The final rule includes:
- Eliminating annual and lifetime limits on children’s coverage in CHIP
- Ending the practice of locking children out of CHIP coverage if a family is unable to pay premiums
- Eliminating waiting periods for CHIP coverage so children can access health care immediately
- Improving the transfer of children seamlessly from Medicaid to CHIP when a family’s income rises
- Requiring states to provide all individuals with at least 15 days to provide any additional information when applying for the first time and 30 days to return documentation when renewing coverage
- Prohibiting states from conducting renewals more frequently than every 12 months and requiring in-person interviews for older adults and those with disabilities