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Greetings NACHSA Members: |
The House and Senate are in recess until September 10. Before they left town, House and Senate leaders agreed to adopt a six month extension of current federal spending before the September 30 deadline. Under the bipartisan agreement, overall spending under the Continuing Resolution would reflect the amounts outlined in the budget agreement (P.L. 112-25) reached a year ago. The extension delays any decisions on reallocating funds or cutting programs until the 113th Congress convenes. In the meantime, programs that were proposed for cuts -- such as the Community Services Block Grant, Social Services Block Grant and Workforce Investment Act programs -- will receive level funding.
In early September, there will be more certainty on exactly how programs would be affected by a possible January cross-the-board cut due to the Budget Control Act. President Obama signed into law on August 7 the Sequestration Transparency Act, (H.R. 5872/PL 112-577). The law requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to submit a report to Congress within 30 days of enactment a detailed accounting of what programs, domestic and defense, would be subject to the cuts and by what amount.
Finally, NACHSA is pleased offer up to five scholarships to attend this fall's human services conference to be held by the County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA). Slated for October 3-5 in Long Beach, CA, the conference, Strengthening Policy, Improving Practice, Supporting Communities will continue the work done in recent years during CWDA's poverty symposiums, and will explore policies and strategies that best serve families across communities.
The scholarships include registration (which includes two lunches and two breakfasts), up to three nights lodging and roundtrip airfare to Long Beach. To learn more about the conference, click here.
If you are interested in being considered for a scholarship, please contact Tom Joseph at tj@wafed.com Applications are due August 29.
Since 2009, NACHSA has sent ten scholars to this conference. |
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Health Reform Resources | |
Implementing Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility Changes: A six-page brief prepared by Mathematica Policy Research outlines a number of issues raised in determining eligibility for coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
State Progress in Creating Health Insurance Exchanges: Created by the Commonwealth Fund, this new interactive map allows you to follow states' progress in establishing health insurance exchanges. The map shows where states are in the continuum of establishing exchanges and provides detail about key exchange provisions in those states that have already passed exchange laws or issued executive orders.
Federal Medicaid Website Redesigned: The Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services recently redesigned its Medicaid.gov website. Federal policy guidance, state resources and Medicaid and CHIP information may be found on the site. There is also a link on the page to access state-specific information on populations served, state plan amendments, and gateways to a state's own website. A new Data & Technology section has been developed to feature the work underway to help states and others in getting IT systems ready for 2014.
ACA's Medicaid Expansion: Who Could Gain Coverage?: A new state-specific analysis finds that the approximately 15 million uninsured adults who could gain coverage under the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Medicaid expansion are a diverse group in terms of age, race, and ethnicity. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and prepared by Urban Institute researchers, the report finds that: Over half are under age 35 (7.8 million), but more than 10 percent (2 million) are adults between the ages of 55 and 64; 4.6 million are women of reproductive age. Just over half (53 percent) are male; and, 55 percent are white, 19 percent are Hispanic and 19 percent are black.
Click here to read a one-page summary of the study. Data estimating the populations eligible for coverage for each state may be found in this issue brief beginning on page 8.
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| Human Services Resources |
Federal Memo on Coordinating Child Welfare and Child Support: This HHS Information Memorandum highlights several topics on how child support and child welfare programs can improve their work, including: child welfare agencies' requests for location services from child support agencies; child welfare agencies making appropriate referrals for child support services; electronic data exchanges between child welfare and child support agencies; and, program authority to share information with each other.
GA Ends in PA: Pennsylvania became the latest state to end its general assistance program, ending benefits for nearly 70,000 of its citizens after a one-month extension ran out on August 1. Click here to read a news story. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities published this General Assistance issue brief in 2011reviewing state and county general assistance programs.
State TANF Spending: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has issued state TANF fact sheets on the use of the block grant. Their detailed study of the program nationwide may be found here.
New Child Welfare Data Released: HHS recently released 2011 data for the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System (AFCARS). AFCARS collects case-level data on all children in the state child welfare system. It reveals that there were 5,872 less children in foster care on the last day of FY2011 down to 400,540 on September 30, 2010. Click here for a six-page summary. Trends from 2002-2011 are found in this chart.
Kinship Care Placements: This Kids Count table provides a state-by-state breakdown of the number and percentage of children in state custody who are placed with relatives in both licensed and unlicensed care.
Guide to Assistance for IV-E Youth: This guide was written for state and local child welfare advocates and human services staff. Prepared by the State Policy and Reform Center (SPARC), it outlines ways to help foster children and youth who aged out of foster care to access public benefits including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the School Lunch Program, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). (Improving the Economic Security of Children in Foster Care and Young People Who are Transitioning from Foster Care: A Guide to Eligibility and Access to Food Assistance, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid. |
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Tom Joseph
National Association of County Human Services Administrators
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