October Reform Matters Conference Call Agenda

 CONFERENCE CALL AGENDA

Hosted by the National Women’s Law Center
October 11, 2012
3:00 pm Eastern 

1. Welcome & Introductions

Introduction and review of agenda

• Dania Palanker, Senior Health Policy Advisor at the National Women’s Law Center

2. Updates on Essential Health Benefits

The HHS Essential Health Benefits Bulletin issued in December 2011 said that states would choose benchmark plans in the third quarter of 2012.  The third quarter ended on September 30, and while HHS has indicated there was no hard deadline, many states have taken action to choose a benchmark plan.  Dania Palanker will provide a brief overview of the status of the Essential Health Benefits and what is expected in terms of future regulations.

• Dania Palanker, Senior Health Policy Advisor at the National Women’s Law Center

3. Fully Expanding Medicaid for Women

Karen Davenport will give an overview of the National Women’s Law Center’s new brief, What the Medicaid Eligibility Expansion Means for Women, and how you can use the information in this brief to advocate for a full expansion of Medicaid in your state.  She will also discuss the types of flexibility some state officials are asking from CMS – such as waiver of the Maintenance of Effort Requirements, allowing expansion up to 100% of the federal poverty level, or having the flexibility to drop the expansion in future years – including how different types of flexibility would impact women and what the response has been from CMS. 

• Karen Davenport, Director of Health Policy at the National Women’s Law Center 

4. Who Benefits from the Medicaid Expansion

Genevieve Kenney will discuss her recent research on the uninsured adults who would gain coverage under the Medicaid expansion.  Dr. Kenney is a nationally renowned expert on Medicaid, The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the broader health insurance coverage and health issues facing low-income children and families.  Her recent research provides a picture of the diverse group that will gain coverage under the Medicaid expansion, including state by state data.  

• Genevieve M. Kenney, Senior Fellow and Economist at the Urban Institute

5. Updates, announcements, future calls:

• Dania Palanker, Senior Health Policy Advisor at the National Women’s Law Center 

To register for upcoming conference calls: http://action.nwlc.org/healthcarereform 

To suggest future agenda topics, or make an announcement on a call, please contact us at reformmatters@nwlc.org

 Materials for the Call:

- What the Medicaid Eligibility Expansion Means for Women, National Women’s Law Center http://www.nwlc.org/resource/what-medicaid-eligibility-expansion-means-women

- Implementing the ACA’s Medicaid-Related Health Reform Provisions after the Supreme Court Decision, Kaiser Family Foundation http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/8348.pdf

- Cindy Mann, CMS Deputy Administrator, presentation to the National Conference of State Legislatures, http://www.ncsl.org/portals/1/documents/health/TFCMannLS12.pdf

- Administration Advises States to Expand Medicaid or Risk Losing Federal Money, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/us/us-advises-states-to-expand-medicaid-or-risk-losing-funds.html?_r=0

- Opting in to the Medicaid Expansion under the ACA Who are the Uninsured Adults Who Could Gain Health Insurance Coverage, Urban Institute http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412630-opting-in-medicaid.pdf

Document(s):

October Reform Matters Agenda