THANK YOU, CONGRESS

for Helping to Make Medicaid and CHIP
Coverage Our Fellow Americans Can Count On.

ACAP applauds Congress for enacting the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which includes 12-month continuous eligibility for children served by Medicaid and CHIP–securing continuity of coverage for more than 44 million children across the nation–and made permanent a state option to provide 12 months of postpartum coverage in Medicaid and CHIP.

We have led the call for continuous eligibility for more than a decade, and we’re thankful to the members of the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle who have helped to advance the cause of continuous eligibility over the years through the introduction or sponsorship of legislation.

Now that 12-month continuous eligibility through Medicaid and CHIP is the law of the land, nearly 600,000 additional children on Medicaid will have access to preventive care visits, and nearly 175,000 additional children will get needed specialty care.

And Medicaid coverage is associated with substantial improvements in maternal health outcomes compared with uninsurance, particularly for non-Hispanic Black women.

These improvements to Medicaid and CHIP will prevent millions of kids and new moms from being unjustly thrown off of coverage programs owing to paperwork complexities or minor, temporary fluctuations in income.

Here are five stories showing the importance of Medicaid coverage: 

With the appropriations act, Congress also provided two additional years funding for CHIP, and allowed for Medicaid payment for certain services for juvenile inmates.

We commend Congress for passing these policies and look forward to future opportunities to shore up Medicaid and CHIP for millions of Americans.

For example, Congress can address dramatic disparities in birth outcomes for people on Medicaid and CHIP by making the 12-month postpartum coverage option a national policy. Medicaid pays for nearly half of all births in the United States, but Medicaid enrollees are 82 percent more likely to experience maternal mortality and morbidity than people who are privately insured. 53 percent of pregnancy related deaths occurred seven to 365 days postpartum. Requiring 12 months of postpartum Medicaid and CHIP coverage would ensure medical care for after their pregnancies.