Last week HHS released new research on the impact of the Home Visiting Coalition or Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program. The Senate has been considering a bill that would extend the program for only two years instead of the five years that advocates including CWLA have been seeking. This research can
On Thursday, the President announced a declaration of a national health care emergency. The declaration is intended to make it easier to use current programs and funds to better address the opioids situation. The declaration (which lasts for 90 days unless extended) came one day after the House Energy and Commerce Committee held their second
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced the House would vote on its legislation to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), HR 3921. That announcement drew the ire of minority Democrats. Funding for CHIP expired on September 30, and the health coverage of nearly 9 million is currently at risk. In fact Congressman McCarthy held
Last Tuesday, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced they had reached a comprise package on modest changes to the ACA. The deal, worked on for several weeks, would extend for two years the Cost Sharing Reductions (CRS) subsidies the President has cut off, allow a more streamlined state waiver process, and
Three days after the Washington Post Story and the October 15, 60 Minutes report on Congressional interference with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) effort to go after the opioid wholesale drug distributors, the Washington Post hosted a forum, Addiction in America, A Nation Responds. The Wednesday forum include a short video on one particular Pennsylvania
Funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expired on September 30, and the health coverage of nearly 9 million is currently at risk. After reaching a bipartisan agreement on policy that extend CHIP for five years, due to the health care fights over repealing the ACA, attention shifted from CHIP and now due to
The President on, Thursday October 12, took two actions designed to weaken the individual insurance market. Although the first action of the day, an Executive Order to deregulate markets, drew the most initial attention, it is the second action on Cost Sharing Reductions (CRS) that could have the most immediate impact. The Executive Order is
On Wednesday the House Energy and Commerce Committee took its turn at focusing on the Opioids epidemic. This and other recent Congressional hearings are not without irony since they come against a backdrop of efforts to weaken the ACA and Medicaid which have increased access to critical substance use and mental health services. The twin
Earlier this month, the GAO issued a report, Federal Action Needed to Address Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. The GAO report was the result of a House bill included in last year’s CARA Act passed last year. The GAO’s conclusion: “The rising opioid crisis has caused a significant increase in the number of infants born and diagnosed
On Wednesday, both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee moved their version of a CHIP reauthorization. The Senate bill sponsored by Senate Finance Chair Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the Keeping Kids’ Insurance Dependable and Secure (KIDS) Act (S. 1827), would extend CHIP for five years