TODAY: A Conversation on Supporting Self-Management in Children and Adolescents with Complex Chronic Conditions Wednesday, August 22, 1:00-2:00 pm ET Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health Background information. TODAY: Protecting Pregnant Women and Babies...

As reported in earlier Updates, Medicaid beneficiaries in Kentucky challenged the administration’s approval of the waiver application that would allow the state to establish work requirements for beneficiaries, among other things. A federal court invalidated approval...

Parents who failed screening interviews for their asylum cases are seeking a second chance to be interviewed. They allege that the interviews were improperly conducted, in part because the parents were traumatized from being separated from their children. See New...

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has been doing meetings with Senators in preparation for his confirmation hearing. Among those he has met with are moderate Democrats who are up for reelection this year and therefore might be open to voting for his confirmation. ...

On August 15, Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tom Carper (D-DE), Chair and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, issued a staff report, Oversight of the Care of...

The Senate will begin debate this week on a bill combining two FY 2019 appropriations bills -- one for the Department of Defense and one for the Departments of Labor, Health, and Human Services (HHS), and Education, known as the “Labor-HHS” bill. Together these bills...

On July 26, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and others introduced a bipartisan bill -- The Children's Program of All-Inclusive Coordinated Care (ChiPACC) Act (H.R. 6560) – which would fill gaps in hospice and palliative services that children now receive under Medicaid. The...

From the CMS Newsroom: Aug. 16 -- CMS Streamlines Medicaid Review Process, Achieves Significant Reduction in Approval Times. “…Today, CMS issued a second Informational Bulletin related to [state plan amendment (SPA)] and 1915 waiver process improvements. This Bulletin...

Kentucky Waiver As reported in the July 3 Washington Update (under “Courts”), a federal court vacated the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) approval of a Kentucky Medicaid waiver proposal to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries. The court’s...

Clarification of “Exceptional Circumstances” SEP for Consumers Impacted by Disasters An August 20 email from the Health Insurance Marketplace announced: “CMS has released guidance clarifying Federally-facilitated Marketplace (FFM) Special Enrollment Period (SEP)...