CHIP has now been extended for six years but many other parts of the “health extenders” package remain in limbo. The CHIP extension became easy when CBO revised its long term cost projections. It basically paid for itself since some of the recent restrictions on the ACA may drive up government costs if families are
By a vote of 55 to 43 the Senate gave the final ok to the appointment Alex Azar to be the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Azar becomes the second HHS Secretary for the Trump Administration. He fills a vacancy in the Secretary position created when Secretary Tom Price stepped
• Since being announced on June 15, 2012 DACA has provided temporary relief from deportation to approximately 800,000 young people across the country • Each day approximately 122 people lose their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status. That is 851 people a week. This is because some young people have not been able to
Last week CWLA signed onto a letter led by Families USA calling on Congress to protect access to affordable, high-quality and comprehensive health insurance. The letter tells congressional leaders: “Medicaid, Medicare, and private health insurance, including insurance provided through the health insurance marketplaces, support the health, well-being, and financial security of millions of families across
No official announcement has been made but much of Washington is expecting that the Administration will release their proposed FY 2019 budget in the first week of February. That is required by law. But that budget will base program cuts and increases on what FY 2018 spending was set at, which has not yet been
Today (Tuesday, January 16) marks the 108th day of the FY 2018 fiscal year without a budget and it looks that that number will continue to increase by this time next week. Even if there is a deal this week it will require a fourth CR to allocate whatever funds that are agreed upon. That
The week started with a bipartisan meeting at the White House on DACA and immigration issues in what can only be described as a meeting of mixed messages as the President bounced between various congressional members and their very different positions on the two issues. Ultimately the one thing that was taken away from the
By Brittney Gerteisen On Tuesday, January 9, the Senate HELP Committee continued their examination of the spread of opioid addiction by hearing from one witness, author Sam Quinones. Sam Quinones is the author of “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic,” an award-winning book published in 2015 that tells the story of how opiates
On Tuesday, January 9, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) held a press conference indicating that the Democrats are seeking $25 billion more in opioid funding to be spread across the current fiscal year and the 2019 fiscal year. This year’s budget includes a $500 million increase because of legislation enacted at
The Administration has released a memo from last March that outlined how the Administration had and is implementing a strategy to undercut and weaken the ACA. The document was released after pressure by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) who blocked Administration nominations until the document was made public. The document was used by then-HHS Secretary Tom
