Incoming Republicans are speaking of using the reconciliation process twice next year with the first one used to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Some speculate that could take place as early as late January. The mantra for opponents of the ACA for over six years has been “repeal and replace’ but the replace part is
On Thursday morning, the Surgeon General made headlines across the nation when he released his new report highlighting the problem of substance use addiction across the country. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., released the Report, Facing Addiction in America, in the hope that his report will have some of the same impact that past
Since much of the President-elect Trump's agenda was wrapped less around specific domestic issues and more around the larger issues such as immigration and trade, it is not clear what the domestic policy agenda will look like. As a result, the priorities may be wrapped around a few big Trump initiatives and a Republican congressional
On Wednesday, November 2 there was a Capitol Hill briefing on the home visiting program, MIECHV (Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting). The target audience included Capitol Hill staff from both houses and both parties. The goal of the briefing was an early education of congressional staff on the program and how it works. The
Late last month the White House Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Task Force released an important and long-awaited report addressing mental health parity in health care plans. The task force is the result of a March 2016, presidential order creating the task force to build on recent changes in federal law and recent
The National Center for Children in Poverty has released a new policy paper on the status of Medicaid access for young people formerly in foster care. The paper, FOSTERING HEALTH: The Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and Youth Transitioning from Foster Care, describes the impact of a provision in the ACA that requires that youth
KPJR films along with Prevent Child Abuse America held a Capitol Hill briefing, Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope. The briefing focused on a new documentary on child abuse and neglect but included a panel discussion on prevention of child maltreatment. Resilience is a documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film
On Tuesday, September 13, the US Census Bureau released their annual data with some surprisingly positive results. The number of insured and the median income rose while the poverty rate decreased. The overall poverty rate now stands at 13.5 percent, a decrease of 1.2 percentage points between 2014 and 2015. That represents the biggest percentage
It is unclear how long Congress will be in session this month but many expect that the session will not extend into October despite a calendar that sets October as adjournment date. Front and center will be the appropriations for FY 2017 which starts on October 1. There is little possibility that Congress will enact
A new study by the Urban Institute, The Cost to States of Not Expanding Medicaid indicates that states could leverage a significant amount of funding by expanding health care services through the ACA while expanding insurance coverage by 4 to 5 million people. The ACA expanded Medicaid coverage to people at 138 percent of poverty.