The agreed to legislation on opioids (see below), HR 6, fixes a glitch in the ACA that mandates that any young person that ages out of foster care is covered by Medicaid to age 26. Through the work of Congressperson Karen Bass (D-CA), the provision was included in the House version of the opioids legislation
The House and Senate agreed to the Substance Use–Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act’’ or the ‘‘SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act’’ or HR 6. The House has passed the bill and left town until November. The Senate is expected to take up the bill this week. In
Shaquita Ogletree The NIH hosted a special screening on Tuesday, September 18, in Washington on Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) based on an HBO Documentary, Risky Drinking. The documentary is a product of Oscar and Emmy winner Ellen Goosenberg Kent and journalist/producer Perri Peltz and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) of the
The Senate voted on their opioids legislation on Tuesday, September 18 and passed it by a vote of 99 to 1 (Senator Mike Lee (R-UT)-no). Immediately they began negotiations on the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, with their House counterparts. The hope is that they can get a quick deal and pass it before
Cutting their week short due to the hurricane, the Senate gave final approval to a Military Construction and Veterans -Energy and Water--Legislative Branch FY 19 spending package sending it back to the House for a final approval. The bill goes to the White House for signature and marks the first FY 2019 bills enacted before
The Senate delayed a vote on an opioids package of legislation until this week. The Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, addresses a range of programs and agencies, sometimes building on 2016 Congressional action though the CARA and CURES acts of that year. Senators had intended to debate the bill on Thursday but put off
The Senate has been struggling to move their opiods legislation, but the hope is it will finally move this week. When they do its passage is to set the stage for a mega-negotiation with the House. Back in the spring there had been a hope that there would be movement on another opiods abuse bill
Shaquita Ogletree On Thursday, September 6, 2018, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth along with First Focus hosted a congressional briefing on the Intersection of Medicaid and Child Welfare. The briefing discussed the importance of Medicaid coverage for current and former foster youth and highlighted the need to fix a glitch in Medicaid regulation affecting
Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data that show health insurance coverage holding steady with Medicaid expansion states doing better than states holding out from expansion. The national uninsured rate dropped slightly during the first quarter of this year, falling to 8.8 percent from 9.1 percent for all of
The Administration last week indicated that they are continuing to consider new work requirement waivers for Medicaid. This comes despite a recent court ruling that struck down a waiver for Kentucky for their work requirements. Secretary Alex Azar indicated they are still considering similar state waiver requests. At the same time the Administration is continuing
