Last week the House Ways and Means Committee released and then worked on perhaps the biggest parts of reconciliation and the Biden Administration’s “Build Back Better” agenda when they published the tax provisions. The tax pieces can be divided into two broad parts, tax deductions and incentives and tax increases to pay for the tax
ASPE released a new brief, How Some States Use Title IV-E Foster Care Funding for Family-based Facilities that Treat Substance Use Disorders, highlighting four states, California, Minnesota, Montana, and Utah. The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) allows states to claim reimbursement from the federal title IV-E foster care program for foster care maintenance payments
Last week the House Ways and Means Committee and other committees began to work on their parts of the reconciliation package. The Ways and Means Committee began work on their version of family and medical leave, trade, retirement, and Medicare expansion, but they have left other actions for this week. The House Education and Labor started their work
On August 10, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent letters to the states of Ohio, South Carolina, and Utah that followed up on February 12 letters, rejecting those states Medicaid waivers that attempted to impose work requirements for people seeking health care coverage under Medicaid. The letters signed by CMS Administrator
A new GAO report: CHILD WELFARE Pandemic Posed Challenges, but also Created Opportunities for Agencies to Enhance Future Operations, includes the result of a survey of state and local child welfare agencies on the challenges of the past year. The challenges included child protective services, the legal system, providing support for families and workers in foster
More than 500 organizations have signed a letter to Congress requesting that residential facilities that meet the new Family First Act “Qualified Residential Treatment Program” (QRTP) standards be exempt from being classified by Medicaid (CMS) as an Institution for Mental Diseases or “IMD.” The letter in part states: “(The Family First Prevention Services Act) FFPSA
The JAMA Network new research study, Characteristics and Precipitating Circumstances of Suicide Among Children Aged 5 to 11 Years in the United States, 2013-2017, examined the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), revealing that suicide is the eighth leading cause of death among children aged 5 to 11 years. Childhood suicide risk factors included mental health, prior
The House of Representatives moved on two significant bills last week that included funding for 9 of the 12 appropriations bills. The first “minibus” appropriations rolled together seven bills, including the appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor-HHS), Agriculture, Energy and Water, Financial Services, Interior, Military Construction, and Transportation-Housing are rolled
A new study by The Lancet, Global minimum estimates of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and deaths of caregivers: a modelling study, determined that over 1.1 million children were “orphaned” by the pandemic last year. These children lost their primary caregiver parent(s) or grandparent(s) due to Covid-19. The total includes more than 113,708 children in
The National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Futures Without Violence, held its annual Capitol Hill briefing on Maternal Mortality and Intimate Partner Violence on Thursday, July 22, 2021. The briefing featured a diverse array of speakers from medical, advocacy, and research backgrounds and messages from Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI) and