Where people live, work and play — and the experiences they have, especially growing up — matters. These social determinants of health (SDOH) include a broad array of social and environmental risk factors such as poverty, housing stability, early childhood education, access to primary care, access to healthy food, incarceration and discrimination. State policy makers are increasingly focused on SDOH because of their important influence on health care outcomes and Medicaid spending.

A major element of the federal legislative proposals to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act is a change to the financing structure for Medicaid. Understanding the effect this funding change will have on Medicaid programs is a critical priority for states. The State Health and Value Strategies program is working to analyze the financing changes from a state perspective.

What does Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding have to do with lead abatement efforts? As outlined in a new brief released by SHVS, states have a valuable opportunity to leverage CHIP funding to protect low-income children from lead.