Family Voices Indiana

Medicaid provides quality health coverage for 31 million children, including essential medical, vision, hearing and dental screenings and services under the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) services. EPSDT services are essential to providing children the routine and preventive care they need to grow into healthy adults. Please check out these new resources for advocates to help ensure that children receive the health screenings and treatment services they need to thrive. NHeLP's website now features an interactive map -- State EPSDT Information -- providing direct links to the Medicaid agencies' EPSDT divisions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Georgetown Center for Children and Families' State Snapshots of Children's Coverage provides state-by-state fact sheets on children's health coverage through Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The American Academy of Pe…

Last chance to register! United Way Day at the Statehouse March 6 We invite staff, volunteers, board members and agency partners to join our Statehouse Day.  We especially encourage new volunteers and staff to visit the statehouse and meet your legislators during this important, budget session. Key advocacy topics may include pre-k expansion, the state budget, mental health access and tax issues.
Register today! Follow along during the 2017 legislative session The Indiana General Assembly is nearing halftime with the crossover deadline next week.  The crossover deadline means that bills that have not been passed out of the first chamber have failed for this session.  
Links to help you follow are below:  WFYI's Following Along in the Legislative Session

FEBRUARY 23, 2017 AT 2:00 PM


by Judith Solomon


Republican plans to severely cut federal Medicaid funds by converting the program to a block grant or a per capita cap represents a severe threat to funding for home- and community-based services (HCBS), despite recent claims to the contrary.

House Republicans claim that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion for low-income adults is squeezing out funding for services for vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities, such as HCBS.

In a related matter, the Foundation for Government Accountability blames the Medicaid expansion for some states’ large waiting lists for HCBS, which give people needing long-term services and supports an alternative to nursing homes. But an analyst from the group admitted in recent House testimony that “there is no correlation” between state decisions to expand Medicaid and waiting lists for HCBS.

States have had the flexibility since 1981 to use Medicaid funds for HCBS. They can target these services …

from National Family Voices:


IN CONGRESS
ACA Repeal and Medicaid Restructuring On February 16, the House Republican leaders released a "policy brief" outlining their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) AND drastically restructure the Medicaid program. (The ACA proposal starts on page 10 Medicaid proposal starts on page 14.) The document is very general, so it is difficult to assess how it would affect the access to affordable insurance. ACA Replacement. This ACA replacement plan would: eliminate the penalty for failure to have health insurance coverage (individual mandate) and the employer mandate, provide refundable age-based (not income-based) tax credits for the purchase of insurance plans, including catastrophic plans, "enhance and expand" Health Savings Accounts, allow the sale of insurance across state lines, and provide "State Innovation Grants," which states could use to make health care or insurance more affordable, including the…