Published April 1, 2020
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved the Medicaid waiver requests of 29 states under section 1135 of the Social Security Act in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
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The waivers grant states some needed flexibility to focus resources on helping Medicaid recipients get the treatment they need during the pandemic.
The states with approved waivers include:
Some of the deregulation afforded by the waivers eases prior authorizations and provider enrollment requirements, suspends certain pre-admission reviews for nursing homes and facilitates reimbursement to providers for care delivered in alternative settings because of evacuations.
“These waivers give a broad range of states the regulatory relief and support they need to more quickly and effectively care for their most vulnerable citizens,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma.1
The waivers are effective from March 1, 2020, until termination of the public health emergency.
Around 20 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries are dual eligible, meaning they are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid.
Some of the actions that state Medicaid programs may now take as a result of the waivers include:
The COVID-19 outbreak is rapidly evolving, and more state updates may be issued in coming days.
Christian Worstell is a senior Medicare and health insurance writer with MedicareAdvantage.com. He is also a licensed health insurance agent. Christian is well-known in the insurance industry for the thousands of educational articles he’s written, helping Americans better understand their health insurance and Medicare coverage.
Christian’s work as a Medicare expert has appeared in several top-tier and trade news outlets including Forbes, MarketWatch, WebMD and Yahoo! Finance.
Christian has written hundreds of articles for MedicareAvantage.com that teach Medicare beneficiaries the best practices for navigating Medicare. His articles are read by thousands of older Americans each month. By better understanding their health care coverage, readers may hopefully learn how to limit their out-of-pocket Medicare spending and access quality medical care.
Christian’s passion for his role stems from his desire to make a difference in the senior community. He strongly believes that the more beneficiaries know about their Medicare coverage, the better their overall health and wellness is as a result.
A current resident of Raleigh, Christian is a graduate of Shippensburg University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
If you’re a member of the media looking to connect with Christian, please don’t hesitate to email our public relations team at Mike@tzhealthmedia.com.
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