Congress (Washington Update, January 30, 2019)

by | Jan 30, 2019 | NCFPP, Washington Update

Money-Follows-The-Person (MFP) Program Extended Temporarily
On January 25, the president signed the Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019 (H.R. 259), which was approved in the Senate by unanimous consent on January 17. The Act provides $112 million for Money Follows the Person, the estimated cost of a three-month extension, which is available for states to spend until September 30, 2019. It also extends the Medicaid home-and-community-based-care spousal impoverishment protections until March 31, 2019.

Upcoming Hearings
Earlier this month, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) announced that the committee would be holding a hearing on the federal district court ruling that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, and a hearing about the administration’s separation of immigrant families and the safety of immigrant children under the care of the Department of Health and Human Services. Dates have not yet been announced. On January 10, the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, Association of University Centers on Disabilities, and Family Voices sent a joint letter to committee leaders urging them to address the considerations of children and youth with special health care needs, including those with disabilities, in these hearings. On January 29, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on protecting Americans with pre-existing conditions, and the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on Drug Pricing in America: A Prescription for Change, Part: A Prescription for Change, Part I.

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With families at the center of health care, all children and youth reach their full potential and health disparities are eliminated.

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Family Voices is a national organization and grassroots network of families and friends of children and youth with special health care needs and disabilities that promotes partnership with families—including those of cultural, linguistic and geographic diversity—in order to improve health care services and policies for children.

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