This is a time of uncertainty and anxiety. Like individuals and institutions around the globe, the National Health Law Program is monitoring the coronavirus pandemic. As an organization dedicated to protecting and expanding access to health rights for low-income and underserved individuals, we are acutely aware that the coronavirus will most severely impact the populations we serve.
While we are taking steps to make sure our staff stays healthy, we will continue to fight for policies that prioritize health care access for low-income and underserved individuals and families. Below you will find an assortment of resources related to coronavirus from NHeLP and from our trusted partners.
Fact Sheet: Overview on Using Medicaid to Respond to COVID-19
In a new fact sheet, Director of Health Policy Leo Cuello discusses how states have several major paths to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic using Medicaid. States have numerous points of discretionary authority, some special discretionary authority that arises in emergency scenarios, normal state plan amendment (SPA) options, and waiver authorities (particularly section 1135 authority). This overview is intended to help advocates better understand and shape state Medicaid responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NHeLP COVID-19 Publications
Coronavirus Related Blogs
Resources
Below are resources from NHeLP, government agencies, and trusted partners that we believe are helpful for advocates. As information about the pandemic changes rapidly, please be vigilant in making sure all information you read is current.
NHeLP Top Ten Lists
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Maintenance of Effort Requirement Compliance
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Reproductive and Sexual Health Care Access in the Time of COVID-19
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Transitions in the Medicaid Program in Light of COVID-19
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Telehealth Coverage During COVID-19
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Coverage of COVID Testing and Treatment for Immigrants
Resources Related to Medicaid Authorities
- NHeLP – Medicaid in Transitions — Monitoring COVID-Related Changes in Coverage
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Transitions in the Medicaid Program in Light of COVID-19
- NHeLP – Use of Emergency Medicaid State Plan Amendments During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- NHeLP – Webinar: Changing Medicaid Programs to Meet COVID-19 Needs
- NHeLP – Video – 1135 Waivers: CMS Ignoring the Best Tool to Fight COVID-19
- NHeLP – COVID-19 Changes to HCBS Using Appendix K: Approval Trends
- NHeLP – Overview on Using Medicaid to Respond to COVID-19
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Section 1135 Waiver Approvals
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – State Plan Amendment Approvals
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – COVID-19 FAQs for State Medicaid and CHIP Agencies
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Operationalizing Implementation of the Optional COVID-19 Testing Group – Potential State Flexibilities
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Inventory of Medicaid and CHIP Flexibilities and Authorities in the Event of a Disaster
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Coronavirus Disease 2019 Disaster Response Toolkit
- Kaiser Family Foundation – Medicaid Emergency Authority Tracker
- Georgetown Center for Children and Families — Approved 1135 Waivers and State Plan Amendments for COVID-19
- Justice in Aging – Emergency Modifications to State HCBS Programs
Legislation and Related Resources
- NHeLP – Medicaid Needs to Remain the Hero: A Summary of the HEROES Act
- NHeLP – Blog: Medicaid is the Hero in The HEROES Act
- NHeLP – Overview of the Medicaid-Related Provisions of the Coronavirus Response Packages
- NHeLP – Letter to Congress on Economic Priorities in COVID-19 Legislation
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Maintenance of Effort Requirement Compliance
- Families USA – The Fierce Urgency of Now: Federal and State Policy Recommendations to Address Health Inequities in the Era of COVID-19
- Families USA – Health Equity Policy Priorities for COVID-19: What Congress Can Do Right Now
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – Larger, Longer-Lasting Increases in Federal Medicaid Funding Needed to Protect Coverage
- Manatt – Summary of Key Healthcare Provisions in the Second COVID-19 Stimulus Bill
- Georgetown University Center for Children and Families – Families First Coronavirus Response Act Medicaid and CHIP Provisions Explained
- Kaiser Family Foundation – The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act: Summary of Key Health Provisions
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – Medicaid Protections in Families First Act Critical to Protecting Health Coverage
Resources Related to Eligibility and Enrollment
- NHeLP – Overview of the Medicaid-Related Provisions of the Coronavirus Response Packages
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Maintenance of Effort Requirement Compliance
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Coverage of COVID Testing and Treatment for Immigrants
- NHeLP – Blog: Streamlining Medicaid Enrollment During COVID-19
- NHeLP – Blog: Leave No Californian Behind: California’s Efforts to Ease Access to Medi-Cal During the Pandemic
- NHeLP – Blog: Medi-Cal Applications Must Be Processed Even When Local Medi-Cal Offices are Closed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic
- NHeLP – Blog: Congress’ Stimulus Package and Its Impact on MAGI
- Georgetown Center on Children and Families – Medicaid as First Responder: Enrollment Is on the Rise
- Institute for Medicaid Innovation – Medicaid Enrollment during COVID-19: A Content Analysis of State Actions to Mitigate Barriers
- Kaiser Family Foundation – State Actions to Facilitate Access to Medicaid and CHIP Coverage in Response to COVID-19
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – COVID-19 FAQs on Implementation of Section 6008 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – COVID-19 FAQs on Implementation of of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and CARES Act
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Operationalizing Implementation of the Optional COVID-19 Testing Group – Potential State Flexibilities
- National Academy for State Health Policy – With Federal Funding Fragmented, States Develop COVID-19 Testing Programs for the Uninsured
- State Health and Value Strategies – CARES Act Unemployment Insurance Expansion and Stimulus Payments – Considerations for States
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – Streamlining Medicaid Enrollment During COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
Resources Related to Due Process
- NHeLP – COVID-19 Litigation Docket
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Transitions in the Medicaid Program in Light of COVID-19
- NHeLP – Medicaid and Due Process during the COVID-19 Pandemic
- NHeLP – Blog: Medicaid Due Process and COVID-19 – Part I
Resources Related to Private Insurance Coverage
- NHeLP – Telehealth Guidance for California Private Plans During the COVID-19 Emergency
- NHeLP – Blog: Coronavirus Highlights the Fool’s Gold of High-Deductible Health Plans
- The Commonwealth Fund — State Action Related to COVID-19 Coverage of Critical Services by Private Insurers
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – FAQ on Essential Health Benefits (EHB)
Resources Related to Reproductive and Sexual Health
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Reproductive and Sexual Health Care Access in the Time of COVID-19
- NHeLP – Blog: Keep Essential Care: Maternal Health
- NHeLP – Blog: Keep Essential Care: Abortion
- Center for American Progress – States Must Expand Telehealth To Improve Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care
- Kaiser Family Foundation – Medication Abortion and Telemedicine: Innovations and Barriers During the COVID-19 Emergency
- If/When/How – COVID-19 Policy Platform Demands Reproductive Self-Determination for All of Us
- Guttmacher Institute – COVID-19 Potential Fallout for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists – Five Things State Medicaid Agencies Should Do Now To Improve Care For Pregnant And Postpartum Women
- Kaiser Family Foundation – State Action to Limit Abortion Access During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Resources Related to Disability and Long-Term Services and Supports
- NHeLP – Medicaid in Transitions — Monitoring COVID-Related Changes in Coverage
- NHeLP – COVID-19 Changes to HCBS Using Appendix K: Approval Trends
- NHeLP – Blog: COVID-19 Crisis: Unspoken Impacts on Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities
- NHeLP – Blog: Home-Based Care under COVID-19: A Do No Harm Approach to Assessing Needs
- NHeLP – Blog: Telehealth and Disability: Challenges and Opportunities for Care
- NHeLP – Blog: Disability, Race, and Structural Inequity: COVID-19 and the Long-Term Care Workforce
- NHeLP – Blog: Keep Essential Care: Direct Service Professionals
- NHeLP – Blog: Keep Essential Care: Home and Community-Based Care
- Center for American Progress – Investing in Home and Community-Based Care During the Coronavirus Pandemic and Future Disasters
- Kaiser Family Foundation – Limits and Opportunities of Federal Reporting on COVID-19 in Nursing Facilities
- The ARC, ASAN, Bazelon, CPR, CommunicationFirst, & DREDF – Evaluation Framework for Hospital Visitor Policies
- Kaiser Family Foundation – COVID-19 Issues and Medicaid Policy Options for People Who Need Long-Term Services and Supports
- Center for Public Representation – COVID-19 Resources
Resources Related to Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Treatment
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- NHeLP – Blog: Medicaid Offers Critical Support for People Who Are Experiencing Behavioral Health Crises During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- NHeLP – Blog: Keep Essential Care: Mental Health Services
- NHeLP – Blog: Keep Essential Care: Substance Use Disorder Treatment
- NHeLP – Blog: During the COVID-19 Pandemic, States Need to Rethink their Delivery of Behavioral Health Services
Resources Related to Telehealth
- NHeLP – Medicaid Principles on Telehealth
- NHeLP – Medicaid in Transitions — Monitoring COVID-Related Changes in Coverage
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Telehealth Coverage During COVID-19
- NHeLP – Fact Sheet on Telehealth and Medicaid during COVID-19
- NHeLP – Medi-Cal Telehealth Guidance During the COVID-19 Emergency
- NHeLP – Telehealth Guidance for California Private Plans During the COVID-19 Emergency
- NHeLP – Blog: Telehealth and Disability: Challenges and Opportunities for Care
- NHeLP – Blog: California Responds to COVID-19 By Expanding Telehealth
- NHeLP – Blog: People on Medi-Cal Can Access Behavioral Health Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic through Telehealth and Relaxed Prescribing Practices
- Kaiser Family Foundation – State Efforts to Expand Medicaid Coverage & Access to Telehealth in Response to COVID-19
- Center for Connected Health Policy – COVID-19 Related State Telehealth Actions
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – State Medicaid & CHIP Telehealth Toolkit
- Kaiser Family Foundation – Medication Abortion and Telemedicine: Innovations and Barriers During the COVID-19 Emergency
- Center for American Progress – States Must Expand Telehealth To Improve Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care
Resources Related to Services and Prescription Drugs
- NHeLP – Medicaid in Transitions — Monitoring COVID-Related Changes in Coverage
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Transitions in the Medicaid Program in Light of COVID-19
- NHeLP – Blog: Keep Essential Care: How Advocates Can Protect Access to Essential Care Services
- NHeLP – Blog: Keep Essential Care: HIV/AIDS Care
- NHeLP – Blog: Ensuring People Have Access to Prescription Drugs During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- NHeLP – Blog: The Administration’s Assault on the ACA Undermining Coronavirus Efforts
Resources Related to Communities of Color
- NHeLP – Blog: Can Coronavirus (COVID-19) be the Tipping Point for Health Equity?
- NHeLP – Blog: Disability, Race, and Structural Inequity: COVID-19 and the Long-Term Care Workforce
- NHeLP – Blog: The Effects of COVID-19 on the African American Community
- NHeLP – Video: The Effects of COVID-19 on the African American Community
- NHeLP – Blog: The Navajo Nation Responds to COVID-19
- Families USA – The Fierce Urgency of Now: Federal and State Policy Recommendations to Address Health Inequities in the Era of COVID-19
- Families USA – Health Equity Policy Priorities for COVID-19: What Congress Can Do Right Now
- Kaiser Family Foundation – Communities of Color at Higher Risk for Health and Economic Challenges due to COVID-19
- Shriver Center for Poverty Law – Racism Laid Bare with COVID-19
- Brookings – How to Reduce the Racial Gap in COVID-19 Deaths
Resources Related to Immigration and Xenophobia
- NHeLP – Top Ten List: Coverage of COVID Testing and Treatment for Immigrants
- NHeLP – Blog: Keep Essential Care: Language Access
- NHeLP – Blog: Immigrant Health Care in the Time of Coronavirus
- Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign – Immigrant Eligibility for Public Programs During COVID-19
- National Immigration Law Center – Understanding the Impact of Key Provisions of COVID-19 Relief Bills on Immigrant Communities
- National Immigration Law Center – Update on Access to Health Care for Immigrants and Their Families
- OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates – Toolkit: Strategies to Defeat Asian American Racial Profiling and Xenophobia
- National Council of Asian Pacific Americans – Letter: 260 Civil Rights Organizations Call on Congress to Denounce Anti-Asian Racism around COVID-19
Resources Related to the LGBTQ Community
- Fenway Institute – Considerations for People Living with HIV and LGBTQIA+ People
Resources Related to Children’s Health
- State Health & Values Strategies – COVID-19 and CHIP
- Georgetown Center for Children and Families – Opportunities for Supporting Children and Families through Pediatric Primary Care in the Time of COVID-19
Resources Related to California Medicaid (Medi-Cal)
- NHeLP – Fact Sheet: Medi-Cal Telehealth Guidance During the COVID-19 Emergency
- NHeLP – Fact Sheet: Telehealth Guidance for California Private Plans During the COVID-19 Emergency
- NHeLP – Blog: Leave No Californian Behind: California’s Efforts to Ease Access to Medi-Cal During the Pandemic
- NHeLP – Blog: Medi-Cal Applications Must Be Processed Even When Local Medi-Cal Offices are Closed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic
- NHeLP – Blog: An Uphill Battle: California’s Efforts to Combat the COVID-19 Pandemic
- NHeLP – Blog: California Responds to COVID-19 By Expanding Telehealth
- NHeLP – Blog: People on Medi-Cal Can Access Behavioral Health Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic through Telehealth and Relaxed Prescribing Practices
- Health Consumer Alliance – Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information
Resources Related to Social Determinants of Health
- NHeLP – Blog: Rural North Carolina Remains Vulnerable to COVID-19 Pandemic
- NHeLP – Blog: The COVID-19 Pandemic Will Cause Deep Cuts to Rural America
- NHeLP – Blog: Can Coronavirus (COVID-19) be the Tipping Point for Health Equity?
- NHeLP – Blog: Disability, Race, and Structural Inequity: COVID-19 and the Long-Term Care Workforce
- NHeLP – Blog: The Effects of COVID-19 on the African American Community
- NHeLP – Video: The Effects of COVID-19 on the African American Community
- NHeLP – Blog: The Navajo Nation Responds to COVID-19
- NHeLP – Blog: On the Other Side, What Promises Will We Keep?
- Kaiser Family Foundation – Understanding the Intersection of Medicaid, Work, and COVID-19
- Families USA – The Fierce Urgency of Now: Federal and State Policy Recommendations to Address Health Inequities in the Era of COVID-19
- Families USA – Health Equity Policy Priorities for COVID-19: What Congress Can Do Right Now
Other Resources
- NHeLP – COVID-19 Litigation Docket
- NHeLP – Blog: Medicaid Block Grants are Cuts to Medicaid, Plain and Simple
- Georgetown Center for Children and Families – COVID-19, State Budget Deficits, and Medicaid Managed Care
- Kaiser Family Foundation – Expected Implications for Medicaid and State Budgets
- Kaiser Family Foundation – Options to Support Medicaid Providers in Response to COVID-19
- Manatt Health – Targeted Options for Increasing Medicaid Payments to Providers During COVID-19 Crisis
