News: July 18, 2012 Headlines

SHARE Awards Nine New Grants SHADAC Director Lynn Blewett's Commentary on Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) Payments National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) Annual State Health Policy Conference Urban Institute Report on LowIncome Uninsured CMS Requests Public Input on Income Conversion Using Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Portal for Estimates of Behavioral Health Conditions Conference Updates Massachusetts Report on Churn Rhode Island Report on Private Insurance Enrollment

Announcements
SHARE Awards Nine New Grants
The State Health Access Reform Evaluation (SHARE) program awarded nine new grants to fund research addressing health reform issues that states face as they work to improve coverage and access. This is SHARE's third round of grants since the program began in 2007. The new grants, which range in length from 12 to 24 months, will offer timely insights into a variety of health reform issues. The projects will explore topics such as Medicaid expansion for childless adults, value-based insurance design for state employee health plans, approaches to health care coordination/integration, and the production of reliable small area estimates of health insurance coverage and access.

SHADAC Director Lynn Blewett's Commentary on Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) Payments
Read her commentary in SHADAC's blog on the impact of reduction in DSH payments for hospitals in states that do not opt to expand Medicaid.

National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) Annual State Health Policy Conference
Registration is now open for NASHP's 25th Annual State Health Policy Conference, to be held October 15-17 in Baltimore, MD. The conference theme this year is "Promoting Excellence Today and Tomorrow".

Our highlighted Resources

SCOTUS Upholds ACA: Now What? Developing an Evaluation Framework for the Affordable Care Act A Comparative Analysis of Health Policy Microsimulation Models

Resources
Urban Institute Report on Low-Income Uninsured
The Urban Institute released, "Making the Medicaid Expansion an ACA Option: How Many Low-Income Americans Could Remain Uninsured." The authors estimate that up to 80% of the 22.3 million Americans eligible for Medicaid under the health care reform law could remain uninsured if all states refuse to participate in the law's Medicaid expansion. The report provides state-level estimates, showing that California, Texas, and Florida each have more than a million uninsured people potentially eligible for Medicaid with incomes less than 138% of the federal poverty level. Additionally, in five states uninsured Medicaid-eligible people comprise over 60 percent of the state's total uninsured population.

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CMS Requests Public Input on Income Conversion Using Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI)
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is requesting public comment on two potential methods by which states could convert current Medicaid income eligibility thresholds, which are based on net income, to equivalent Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) levels. This conversion process is significant because the resulting threshold will be used, along with other information, to determine which enrollees will be considered newly eligible in 2014. States will receive the enhanced 100% Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for these enrollees in 2014. SHADAC will be providing technical assistance to states as they work to implement income conversion.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Portal for Estimates of Behavioral Health Conditions

SAMHSA published an online portal for national and state estimates of behavioral health conditions. Using data from the 2008-2010 National Survey of Drug Use and Health and the 2010 American Community Survey, this portal offers state-level estimates of the prevalence of serious mental illness, serious psychological distress, and substance use disorder among individuals who are uninsured on a state-by-state basis. Estimates are provided for the current Medicaid population, the Medicaid expansion population, and the Exchange population

Conference Updates

The Joint Statistical Meetings of the American Statistical Association will be held July 28-August 2, 2012 in San Diego, CA. SHADAC Senior Research Fellow Joanna Turner will present "Results from the Survey of Health Insurance and Program Participation" on July 31. SHADAC Research Assistant Michel Boudreaux will present "Design Effect Anomalies in the American Community Survey" on July 29.

The National Center for Health Statistics' 2012 National Conference on Health Statistics will be held August 6-8, 2012 in Washington, DC. This biennial conference focuses on the critical impact of public health data on the health and well-being of the U.S. population. The 2012 Conference will emphasize current NCHS data activities and their relationship to todays key health issues. See here for updates on the Integrated Health Interview Survey (IHIS).

The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Data Users Workshop will be held on August 9, 2012 at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). NCHS is located in Hyattsville, MD. Registration for this all-day workshop is free and

available at this link. The workshop will provide an overview of the NHIS, questionnaires and supplements, sample design, and accessing and using the microdata. Ample time will be available for interacting with the presenters and other NHIS experts from the NCHS staff.

News from the States

Massachusetts Report on Churn
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released "Enrollment and Disenrollment in Subsidized Health Insurance: Lessons Learned in Massachusetts." This report examined the higher churn in coverage among individuals with behavioral health disorders compared to the rest of the population. This qualitative study found several key issues driving disenrollment and discuss how states can address these as they move toward implementation of federal health reform.

Rhode Island Report on Private Insurance Enrollment

The Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner released "Rhode Island Private Insurance Enrollment." Using enrollment data and the American Community Survey, this report shows a small increase in enrollment in commercial insurance from 2010 to 2011, to nearly 560,000 covered lives.

Visit SHADAC's blog for regular updates and commentary

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SHADAC's resources by signing up for our e-mail list These updates include our bi-weekly newsletter; webinars on data, evaluation, and reporting related to Affordable Care Act implementation; and other resources pertinent to state health policy.

If you were forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to our email list, please visit our signup page at www.shadac.org/content/stay-updated. SHADAC is funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help states monitor rates of health insurance coverage and to understand factors associated with uninsurance. Visit us online at www.shadac.org SHARE is a National Program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to fund, synthesize and disseminate evaluations of state health reform. SHARE operates out of SHADAC. For more information, visit SHARE's web site, www.statereformevaluation.org. Copyright (C) 2012 State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) All rights reserved.