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The UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform and Modernization released a new brief. Many Americans do not have health insurance coverage, and Medicaid enrollment can cover the gap of the uninsured, if successful practices are used. This brief highlights four approaches used in Kentucky and Arkansas to increase enrollment for low-income residents to cut their uninsured populations in half. The solutions in this brief can inform other states on efforts to decrease the number of uninsured people.

For Social Security beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income recipients who are not capable of managing their own benefit payments, the Social Security Administration (SSA) pays benefits to a representative payee. The authors estimate that the demand for representative payees will increase from 2.94 million beneficiaries in 2013 to 3.27 million by 2025 and to 3.56 million by 2035.

Research from the AARP Public Policy Institute/Urban Institute shows the uninsured rates for 50- to 64- year-olds dropped 31% between December 2013 and December 2014. In states that expanded their Medicaid programs, the drops were greater. The analysis uses preliminary data from the second open enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act.

This is one in a series of annual reports on participation in the Medicaid Buy-In program. It provides updates on both national- and state-level trends in enrollment, employment, and earnings among the 35 reporting Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG) states with a Buy-In program in 2011. Additionally, it addresses recent changes to state program rules and policies, and identifies factors that have affected recent Buy-In program enrollment, as reported by the states in an annual questionnaire.

This report examines pilot programs in three states designed to expand access to SNAP for low-income elderly people and people with disabilities. The multiyear, multimode study, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service, found that all of the pilot projects had positive effects on SNAP applications and approvals among the target population; however, some effects were very small in a practical sense.

This GAO report examines (1) the extent to which Medicaid enrollees have private insurance, and (2) the state and CMS initiatives to improve third-party liability (TPL). Given the findings in the report, GAO recommends that CMS routinely monitor and share information regarding key TPL efforts and challenges, as well as provide guidance on state oversight of TPL efforts conducted by Medicaid managed care plans.

This GAO report examines 1) the extent to which states have Supplemental Security Income/Disability Insurance (SSI/DI) advocacy contracts with private organizations; 2) how SSI/DI advocacy practices compare across selected sites; and 3) the key controls the Social Security Administration has to ensure these organizations follow SSI/DI program rules and regulations. The GAO identified 16 states with some type of SSI/DI advocacy contract in 2014.

This study focuses on understanding the rates and patterns of enrollment in Medicaid among individuals already enrolled in Medicare, the factors that predict this transition to dual coverage, and those that predict nursing home entry. This volume of this report is a descriptive examination of the number and characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries who transition to dual coverage in the coming year.

Recent interest among policymakers in helping Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries return to work has increased the desire for knowledge about the employment activities of people with disabilities before they apply for benefits. This brief summarizes results from a working paper, conducted through the Social Security Administration's Disability Research Consortium, on the experiences of SSDI applicants before they apply for SSDI.

Despite states' rebalance of long-term care (LTC) systems with greater emphasis on home and community-based services (HCBS), many low-income elderly, persons with physical disabilities, and persons with intellectual/developmental disabilities continue to reside in institutions. Through an analysis of Medicaid enrollment and LTC claims data, this report provides information on the characteristics of institutionalized enrollees, their stays, and the interaction of institutional services and HCBS.