Indiana Family to Family

Family Voices Indiana reminds its members that the budget agreement included a "super committee". This panel will be tasked with searching out more than $1 trillion in spending reductions from the mandatory-spending side of the budget, which includes Medicare and Medicaid. Families with children with special health care needs and/or disabilities will need to continue to be engaged in the process to protect programs vital to our children’s health and quality of life. “Super Committee” members: Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas (Republican and committee co-chair): chairman of the House Republican Conference Sen. Patty Murray of Washington (Democrat and committee co-chair): member of the Budget and Appropriations committees Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland (Democrat): ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona (Republican): member of the Finance Committee. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts (Democrat): member of the Finance Committee Sen. Pat Toome

Members of Family Voices Indiana attended the Select Joint Commission on Medicaid Oversight meeting Tuesday at the statehouse. Family Voices tweeted in real time on Twitter @FVIndiana as well. Rylin Rodgers spoke on behalf of Family Voices Indiana and that testimony is embedded below. The following were key points of that meeting: (1) Update on implementation of the hybrid eligibility system. - Michael Gargano, Secretary, FSSA · FSSA program enrollment is up by 44% · Pending applications and backlogs have dropped 82% since the takeover from IBM · They are tracking local office calls (2) Overview of preparation and development of healthcare exchanges and federal health care reform. - Seema Verma, Health Care Reform Lead · References to the lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of requiring individual health insurance · HIP is being expanded to include 8000 childless adults · Healthcare exchanges