Duke 2008 | ASHE | Equity and Efficiency in Health and Healthcare

Over the last few years, state policy makers have been grappling with a number of important issues associated with Medicaid. The primary issues have been increasing costs and its' fiscal impact on state budgets. Other important issues have focused on program expansions, models for payments, and improving enrollment among the eligible. In this session, we will present papers looking at three important issues associated with Medicaid. The first paper evaluates the effect of managed care on controlling costs among the adult disabled population enrolled in Medicaid. The second paper analyzes the impact of "churning," or movements into and out of Medicaid, on beneficiaries' resource utilization. The third paper evaluates the uptake of health insurance for children through the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Together, this session will present papers related to some of the most important issues facing Medicaid including cost containment, insurance interruptions, and uptake of Medicaid for children. Finally, we will present potential policy implications associated with each of the papers.