Poverty

This week at CBPP, we focused on health, federal tax, food assistance, and the economy.

A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will soon announce a decision in Texas v. United States, the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

New evidence that thousands of lives are at stake should give states that have not yet expanded Medicaid one more reason to do so.

The Trump Administration and 18 state attorneys general are asking the courts to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) as unconstitutional. If the lawsuit were to succeed, 20 million people would lose health insurance, and millions more would face higher costs for health insurance or health care.

The New York Times and ProPublica have highlighted major flaws in the 2017 tax law’s “opportunity zone” tax break — which was ostensibly designed to encourage investment in low-income areas but is really a regressive tax cut for wealthy investors, with dubious benefits for low- and moderate-income households.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit together boosted the incomes of 28.1 million poor Americans in 2018, lifting 10.6 million above the poverty line and making 17.5 million others less poor, our analysis of new Census data shows. These totals include 11.9 million children, 5.5 million of whom were lifted out of poverty and another 6.4 million made less poor. The figures use the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which — unlike the official poverty measure — accounts for taxes and non-cash benefits as well as cash income.

Consumers can shop for 2020 health insurance coverage during the open enrollment period of November 1 to December 15 but, if they use enrollment pathways other than HealthCare.gov, they risk choosing subpar coverage and missing out on financial help for which they’re eligible in the marketplace.

The best way for consumers to get accurate, unbiased information about their health insurance options is to shop at HealthCare.gov, or with the help of a certified navigator or application counselor (“assister”). But for those who choose to work with a web-based broker, individual agent or broker, or insurance company instead, here are some steps to protect yourself.

The uninsured rate among children rose for the second straight year in 2018 to 5.2 percent, up from 2016’s historic low of 4.7 percent, a new report from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families (CCF) finds.

Today’s hearing concerns eligibility errors in Medicaid, primarily whether people are being properly enrolled and whether they are remaining enrolled after they are no longer eligible. But we shouldn’t limit our definition of program integrity to the occurrence and likelihood of these types of errors.

During open enrollment, which runs from November 1 to December 15, consumers should take a close look at the benefits of signing up for health insurance on HealthCare.gov or their state-based marketplace. Here are five good reasons why:

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

While state disinvestment in public higher education has helped drive rising tuition across the country, as we explain in our new report, tuition is rarely the total price that college students face.

Deep state higher education funding cuts over the last decade helped drive rapid, significant tuition increases and pushed more of college costs to students, making it harder for them to enroll and graduate, as we explain in our new report. The cuts also worsened racial and class inequality, since rising tuition deters low-income students and students of color from college.

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona

The Trump Administration has invited states to set up so-called wellness programs, with individual-market insurers creating plans with higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs for people who don’t meet certain health targets. Such programs would gut protections for people with pre-existing health conditions.

Arizona is suspending its plan to take Medicaid coverage away from people who don’t meet work requirements, adding to the growing list of states making similar decisions. Other states with approved or pending work requirement waivers also should reconsider these harmful policies.

Medicaid waivers that take coverage away from people not meeting work requirements have steep administrative costs, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report notes. Nevertheless, the report adds, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) — which approves such waivers — does not require states to include administrative cost estimates in waiver proposals, and it does not factor these costs into its own budget calculations.

The bill offers a loan that families would have to repay, not a new benefit, and provides no new job protection for workers seeking to take time off.

Deep state cuts in funding for higher education over the last decade have contributed to rapid, significant tuition increases and pushed more of the costs of college to students, making it harder for them to enroll and graduate.