Publications

See selected publications below from the Health Scholars Legal Initiative team.

Medicaid

• Sara Rosenbaum, Alison Barkoff, Allyson Crays. As States Implement Medicaid Community Engagement Requirements, Due Process Safeguards Loom Large. Health Affairs Forefront. April 15, 2026.*
• Jane Tavares, Alison Barkoff, Sara Rosenbaum, Marc A. Cohen. Unfounded Fraud Allegations Threaten Vital Medicaid Home And Community-Based Services. Health Affairs Forefront. March 16, 2026.*
• MaryBeth Musumeci, Preeyanka Rao, Allyson Crays, Carmel Shachar. How Medical Frailty Exemption Policies Can Offer a Lifeline to People with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses When Medicaid Work Requirements Are Implemented. Commonwealth Fund. December 18, 2025.*
• Marcella Maguire, Alison Barkoff. Medicaid's New Address Verification Requirements Could Impose Significant Burdens. Health Affairs Forefront. October 2, 2025.
• MaryBeth Musumeci, Caitlin Murphy, Elizabeth Leiser, Hannah Silverman, Kian Azimpoor. Reducing Medicaid Churn: Policies to Promote Stable Health Coverage and Access to Care. Commonwealth Fund. June 11, 2025.*
• Sara Rosenbaum, MaryBeth Musumeci, Alison Barkoff, Kian Azimpoor. The Supreme Court Puts Access To Medicaid Family Planning Care On The Line. Health Affairs Forefront. January 30, 2025.*
• MaryBeth Musumeci, Elizabeth Leiser. CMS Is Taking Steps to Identify Unmet Need for Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services for Older Adults and People with Disabilities. Commonwealth Fund. September 25, 2024.*
• MaryBeth Musumeci, Elizabeth Leiser, Megan Douglas. Few Georgians Are Enrolled in the State’s Medicaid Work Requirement Program. Commonwealth Fund. September 11, 2024.*
• MaryBeth Musumeci. Taking Action to Reduce Medicaid Churn and Keep People Continuously Enrolled in Coverage. Commonwealth Fund. July 3, 2024.*
• Leighton Ku, MaryBeth Musumeci, Sara Rosenbaum. Florida’s Medicaid Unwinding Lacks Fundamental Safeguards And Can Harm Population Health. Health Affairs Forefront. December 1, 2023.*
• Sara Rosenbaum. MaryBeth Musumeci. The Broader Policy Implications of the Medicaid Unwinding Crisis. Commonwealth Fund. November 28, 2023.*
• MaryBeth Musumeci, Megan Douglas. Georgia’s New Medicaid Waiver: Promise and Pitfalls for People with Disabilities. Commonwealth Fund. October 11, 2023.*
• Sara Rosenbaum, Alexander Somodevilla, Maria Casoni, MaryBeth Musumeci. Inside The Administration’s Proposed Medicaid Managed Care Rule: Steering A Behemoth. Health Affairs Forefront. June 15, 2023.*
• Sara Rosenbaum, Timothy Jost, MaryBeth Musumeci, Alexander Somodevilla. A Victory for Medicaid Beneficiaries In Supreme Court’s Talevski Decision. Health Affairs Forefront. June 9, 2023.*
• Sara Rosenbaum, Maria Casoni. Creating a Pathway to Affordable Health Insurance for Dreamers. Commonwealth Fund. May 18, 2023.*
• Sara Rosenbaum, Alexander Somodevilla. Medicaid’s Continuous Enrollment Guarantee Is About to End: The Challenge of Navigating the Wind-Down Process. Commonwealth Fund. February 15, 2023.*

Preventive Services

• Allyson Crays, Caroline Farrell, MaryBeth Musumeci. Kids Lose When Vaccine Coverage Rules Are Unclear — Understanding Recent Changes in Federal Vaccine Guidance. Commonwealth Fund. January 29, 2026.*
• MaryBeth Musumeci, Jenna Xaiver. Federal Policy Changes Are Making It Harder to Get COVID Shots at Pharmacies. Commonwealth Fund. November 5, 2025.*
• MaryBeth Musumeci. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices: What It Does and How Recent Changes to It Will Affect Vaccine Affordability and Access. Commonwealth Fund. August 14, 2025.*
• Sara Rosenbaum. MaryBeth Musumeci. What the Latest Decision in the Braidwood Case Could Mean for Preventive Care. Commonwealth Fund. July 19, 2024.*
• MaryBeth Musumeci, Sara Rosenbaum. The ACA’s Promise of Free Preventive Health Care Faces Ongoing Legal Challenges. Commonwealth Fund. October 20, 2023.*
• Sara Rosenbaum, Caitlin Murphy. Insurance Claims Data Show that Millions of Americans Rely on the Affordable Care Act’s Free Preventive Coverage Guarantee for Critical Maternal, Infant, and Child Health Care. The George Washington University Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health. September 27, 2023.*
• Sara Rosenbaum, Maria Casoni, Rebecca Morris, Caitlin Murphy. Should the Challengers Prevail in Braidwood Management v Becerra, Older Working-Age Adults Would Lose More Than Two Dozen Free Preventive Benefits. The George Washington University Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health. September 26, 2023.*
• Caitlin Murphy, Rebecca Morris, Kay Johnson, Sara Rosenbaum. Braidwood Management v Becerra Could Eliminate Three Quarters of the Affordable Care Act’s Preventive Benefits for Women, Infants, and Children. The George Washington University Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health. June 8, 2023.*

Civil Rights

• MaryBeth Musumeci, Elizabeth Leiser, Huba Zaman, Sara Rosenbaum. How a Supreme Court Decision Is Changing the Way Federal Laws Are Interpreted. Commonwealth Fund. October 31, 2024.*
• MaryBeth Musumeci. New Regulations Counter Discrimination in Health Coverage and Care but Are Delayed by Courts. Commonwealth Fund. July 10, 2024.*
• Sara Rosenbaum, MaryBeth Musumeci, Kian Azimpoor, Josemiguel Rodriguez. Four Key Takeaways From A Health Care Civil Rights Landmark: The Final Section 1557 Rule. Health Affairs Forefront. June 12, 2024.*

Funding Acknowledgement 

*Indicates publications supported by the Commonwealth Fund, a national, private foundation based in New York City that supports independent research on health care issues and makes grants to improve health care practice and policy. The views presented here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Commonwealth Fund, its directors, officers, or staff.