Policy & Regulation

In April 2024, CMS issued the Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting final rule which established new minimum nurse staffing requirements for nursing homes by nurse type.

States may use Appendix K to modify their existing Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) 1915(c) waiver programs during emergency situations. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, states used Appendix K to make temporary changes to access and eligibility, payment, services, and other aspects of their waiver programs.

The FY2024 Capacity Assessment Check In is part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) multi-year approach for addressing the primary capacity building needs identified through the initial FY2023-2026 HHS Capacity Assessment.

The uninsured rate among non-elderly American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) decreased from 32.4 percent in 2010 to 19.9 percent in 2022 – however, the AI/AN population continues to have the highest uninsured rate compared to other racial and ethnic populations.

Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) experienced larger relative gains in health insurance coverage than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010.

The uninsured rate for nonelderly Latinos decreased from 32.7 percent to 18.0 percent, from 2010 to 2022, however, Latinos are more than twice as likely to be uninsured as non-Latino Whites.

Recent legislative and administrative policy initiatives have built on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) expansion of health insurance coverage and improvements in access to and utilization of health care services.

Since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage provisions, the uninsured rate among nonelderly Black Americans decreased by 10 percentage points, from 20.9 percent in 2010 to 10.8 percent in 2022.

The Welfare Indicators Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-432) requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to prepare an annual report to Congress on indicators and predictors of “welfare dependence.” That Act requires the report to include three programs: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program (which replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)

Newly released data from the National Health Interview Survey indicates no statistically significant change in the uninsured rate from the previous three quarters of 2023 and a continued steady decline in uninsurance since 2020.