Issue Briefs | Nov 20, 2020

State Strategies for Overcoming Barriers to Advance Health Equity

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Patti Boozang, Kaylee O’Connor, and Alisha Reginal, Manatt Health

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted longstanding health inequities which have resulted in an increased risk of sickness and death for people of color. The crisis has also propelled a nationwide focus on understanding and addressing health inequities. While COVID-19 and the reckoning on racial justice have mobilized some state officials working in Medicaid, public health, insurance departments, and Marketplaces, alike, states are at different places on their journeys to confront systemic racism and inequities in health care, and each faces unique and challenging barriers. This issue brief explores impediments and accelerants to advancing health equity as states are increasingly being called upon to drive change.


Expert Perspectives

January 17, 2025

Release of Updated CMS Guidance on Continuous Eligibility for Medicaid/CHIP Children and Youth

On January 15, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released updated State Health Official letter and Frequently Asked Questions guidance, replacing a previously issued SHO letter and FAQs on the requirement in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 that states provide 12 months of continuous eligibility for children and youth under the age of 19 in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, effective as of January 1, 2024.