On June 26, CMS announced ways that it would seek to strengthen program integrity. See CMS Launches Slate of Initiatives Aimed at Curbing Fraud, Waste in Medicaid (FierceHealthcare, 6/26/18).

As announced on June 28, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an Informational Bulletin on ensuring the health and welfare of individuals receiving Medicaid-funded Home and Community Based Services (HCBS). The Centers for Medicaid & CHIP...

The Massachusetts Medicaid program asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to waive several different requirements of Medicaid law pursuant to the federal government’s waiver authority granted in section 1115 of the Social Security Act. Among the...

Teaching Parents of Kids with Disabilities to Fight Back  (NPR, 6/29/18, text and audio) – story about the Partners in Policymaking program.

The big issue in DC is still the separation of immigrant children from their families at the southwest US border, or more precisely, how to reunite them. In order to gain sufficient support for ways to address this and other immigration issues, the House has postponed...

A Georgetown Center on Children and Families blog post explains the recent Informational Bulletin to states about Medicaid coverage of services for neonatal abstinence syndrome.

Sky-High Deductibles Broke the U.S. Health Insurance System (Bloomberg, 6/26/18) How will marketplace premiums change in 2019? It depends where you live. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 6/21/18)

Traveling by Air with Service Animals [corrected from May 31 Update.] Comments due July 9 On May 23, the Department of Transportation (DOT) published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding regulations of service animals under the Air Carrier...

FDA Approves Epilepsy Drug Derived from Marijuana On Monday, June 25, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the approval of a purified form of the drug cannabidiol (CBD). The new product, called Epidiolex, was approved to treat seizures in patients two...

As of June 20, the administration had not yet provided any information to about future funding to the groups that have been serving as ACA “navigators.” See Key ObamaCare groups in limbo as they await funding (The Hill, 6/20/28). Navigators assist consumers in...