Poverty

Nine years after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on March 23, 2010, the uninsured rate remains at a historic low and more than 20 million people have gained coverage — but about 30 million non-elderly people are still uninsured. Several new CBPP analyses examine the uninsured and identify policies to continue expanding coverage and making coverage and health care more affordable.

In Iowa, a Senate-passed bill that’s now before the House would almost certainly take Medicaid coverage away from thousands of people who can’t meet a work requirement.

In his 2020 budget, President Trump proposes again to radically reduce the federal role in helping low-income seniors, families with children, and others to pay rent and make ends meet.

A large majority of the more than 18,000 Arkansas Medicaid beneficiaries who lost their Medicaid coverage since the state began implementing a first-in-the-nation Medicaid work requirement in June not only haven’t found jobs, but they also probably don’t have health insurance, new state data suggest.

Increasing or eliminating the income cap on the ACA's premium tax credits would ensure that nearly all consumers have coverage options that cost less than 10 percent of their incomes.

Lower-income people are much more likely to lack insurance, and they comprise the majority of the marketplace-eligible uninsured.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more than 20 million people have gained health coverage.

President Trump’s 2020 budget proposes nearly $600 billion in net Medicare spending reductions over ten years (see table). Most of the proposals would reduce payments to health care providers and not affect beneficiaries directly.

This week at CBPP, we focused on the federal budget, health, federal taxes, state budgets and taxes, and the economy.

States can help reverse the harmful legacy of racism and racial discrimination by changing how they raise and spend money. Robust public investments in schools, health care, and infrastructure can create more opportunities for people of color. One way states can raise the needed revenue is by creating or strengthening “millionaires’ taxes” – higher tax rates at high income levels, as our recent report explained.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed new rules that would expand “direct enrollment,” in which consumers enroll in marketplace coverage by using the websites of insurers and brokers instead of the federal HealthCare.gov site. The rule encourages navigators and others certified to provide impartial consumer help to enroll consumers through these private websites.

Montana lawmakers will hear testimony on two bills this Saturday: one permanently extending the state’s successful Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act beyond its June expiration, which would let Montana keep receiving federal funds to cover over 96,000 low-income adults, the other continuing the expansion for just 18 months and taki

Here are the CBPP posts and papers to date on President Trump’s 2020 budget; we’ll update this list as we issue more analyses:

President Trump’s 2020 budget doubles down on the Administration’s unprecedented policy of letting states take away Medicaid coverage from people not meeting work requirements by proposing work requirements nationwide.

The Trump Administration’s approval of state Medicaid policies that restrict access to coverage and care will impede the success of new Medicaid models. 

As we recognize the fourth annual Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Awareness Day today, we also celebrate 50 years of VITA. This IRS-sponsored program trains volunteers to help millions of low- and moderate-income people file their taxes by providing accurate, free, and trustworthy tax preparation assistance. VITA sites are located across the country at community settings like libraries, community organizations, churches, and universities.

VITA fulfills four critical tax preparation needs:

Direct enrollment raises several concerns, primarily because DE entities lack the benefits and protections that the ACA marketplaces provide.

Some seniors and people with disabilities receiving home- and community-based services (HCBS) again face the possibility of losing their Medicaid eligibility and having to enter nursing homes to get needed care, because a three-month extension of “spousal impoverishment” protections expires on March 31.