Family Voices Indiana

December 21, 2017   Andy Schneider The tax bill (H.R. 1, The “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”) that Congress passed this week is about more than cutting taxes for corporations and high-income individuals, although  it is definitely about that . It’s also about cutting health coverage for low-income children and families. The bill’s repeal of the tax penalty for not having health insurance coverage has received a lot of attention, and rightly so. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), most individuals are  required to have health insurance  coverage (the “individual mandate”); failure to do so results in a tax penalty (the greater of 2.5% of income or $695 per adult/$347.50 per child). The tax bill permanently repeals the penalty for months beginning January 1, 2019, but not the mandate itself. As our colleague  Sabrina Corlette at Georgetown’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms has noted , the gutting of the individual mandate,  “will be, in effect, the final death blow for the ind

From Indiana Legal Services: Problems with Your HIP 2.0 Health Insurance?  Are you experiencing problems with your POWER ACCOUNT payments?  Are your POWER ACCOUNT payments unaffordable?  Are you having trouble with your eligibility?  Are you experiencing long delays getting your application processed?  Have you recently lost HIP Plus coverage?  Have you recently lost ALL coverage? We may be able to help! Indiana Legal Services is a non-profit free legal services provider. Feel free to contact us for an intake at: (844) 243-8570 between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Eastern. (9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Central).

From National Family Voices: IN CONGRESS Tax Bill Passed - Repeal of ACA's Individual Mandate and More The  Tax Cuts and Jobs Act  (H.R. 1) has passed both chambers of Congress and is on its way to the president's desk to be signed into law. The House passed the bill along mostly partisan lines, with 12 Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition. The  Senate passed the bill on a strictly partisan basis with a vote of 51-48. (Senator McCain, R-AZ, was absent.)   A few of the provisions of special interest to families whose children have special health care needs are:   Deduction of medical expenses :  The final bill includes the Senate provision, proposed by Senator Collins (R-ME), which would allow  more  people to take the deduction in 2018 and 2019 by lowering the threshold for taking the deduction from 10 to 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income. After 2019, the threshold will be ten percent, as it would have been under current law. The House bill would

For your reference, key disability provisions within the tax bill: • The requirement for all people to have health insurance under Affordable Care Act is repealed • The Medical expense deduction used by individuals with high medical and long-term care expenses is kept, and the threshold to use the credit is reduced. For the next two years people with medical expenses of 7.5% (rather than 10%) of their total income can use the deduction. • The Orphan drug tax credit was not eliminated, but was reduced from reimbursing 50% of qualified clinical testing expenses to 25%. • The Work Opportunity Tax Credit is kept, meaning businesses will get a tax credit if they hire people with disabilities referred by VR ($2,400) or applicants who are veterans ($9,600 tax credit). • The Architectural barrier renovation (disabled access) tax credit is kept, meaning that businesses will be able to get a tax credit of up to $5,000 for renovations to make their businesses more accessible. • The

Read Our Report A  new analysis  by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families found that if Congress does not act soon to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), an estimated 1.9 million children in separate CHIP programs could lose coverage in January. An additional 1 million children would also be at risk of losing coverage by the end of February. Funding for CHIP expired on  September 30 . Congress has not approved additional funding but provided a so-called “patch” as part of the short-term Continuing Resolution passed by Congress on December 7 and signed into law on December 8. The patch reallocated funds among states, giving more money to 20 states (including D.C.) with shortfalls in the 1st quarter of 2018. As no new money was added, the patch will actually cause the remaining 31 states to run out of money more quickly.

The Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Task Force will meet on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. (ET), at Ivy Tech Community College – Bloomington, Shreve Hall, 200 Daniels Way, Bloomington, Indiana, 47404 . I. Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch calls meeting to order (11:00 a.m.) a. Introduction of Task Force Members II. Listening Session – Facilitated by Leslie Green, CEO, Stone Belt (11:05 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.) III. Review and Approval of Minutes from November 20, 2017 Meeting IV. Review and Discuss Draft Task Force Vision and Values a. Prepared by Derek Nord, based on first meeting V. Current Environment and Impacts on Services (from Task Force Member’s Perspectives) a. Based on your experiences, and looking ahead, describe the greatest need or biggest challenge impacting supports and services to individuals with IDD and their families over the next ten years. b. How would you recommend responding to this need or challenge over the next ten years? (If applicable,