The Senate is back in town after their August recess. Senator Schumer has set a “soft” deadline for Senate democratic led committees to finish drafting their portions of the reconciliation bill. Meanwhile, we get our first look at the House reconciliation bill as several House committees begin “mark up” of their respective portions.

Mark up is the process by which the committee votes on changes to the bill as it moves its way to the entire House. Notably, the committee does not actually change the original text language. Only the full House can change the language of the bill. Therefore, the committee, using specific processes, votes on proposed amendments to the bill and its language to pass on to the entire House for review. So what does this mean? Mark up is another step in the long process through which the House needs to work to get to a vote on the Build Back Better Act. The Senate will go through its own process, but this week, our eyes (and ears and voices) are focused on the House.

This week we get first looks at some of the language and details of different components of the Act as each House committee shares language in preparation for their respective mark up processes. Below are just a few of the portions of the Build Back Better Act that impact CYSHCN and their families (organized by the committee from which they originated).

House Energy and Commerce (E & C):

Education and Labor mark up will consider:

Ways and Means Committee mark up:

It is worth noting that although Democrats in both the Senate and House passed a $3.5 trillion goal for the reconciliation bill last month (they passed a budget resolution; like goals for reconciliation), there are strong voices indicating that they are no longer comfortable with that number. And so begins the process of slimming down the package. Amidst the reconciliation negotiations and other business, the House has pledged to vote on Infrastructure Bill by September 27^th. Additionally, the federal government runs out of money on September 30^th (they will need to consider a short term spending bill, “a continuing resolution”). September is a sprint and a marathon. Fasten your seatbelts and keep your eyes on the horizon!

“No Jab, No Job”: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced that emergency regulations requiring vaccinations for nursing home workers will be expanded to include hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings, and home health agencies, among others, as a condition for participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The decision was based on the continued and growing spread of the virus in health care settings, especially in parts of the U.S. with higher incidence of COVID-19. CMS will continue to work closely with all Medicare and Medicaid certified facilities to ensure these new requirements are met.

Medicaid enrollees are getting vaccinated against covid-19 at far lower rates than the general population as states search for the best strategies to improve access to the shots and persuade those who remain hesitant. Lack of access to state data as to immunization and difficulty in getting the message to Medicaid populations are cited as the biggest barriers.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is awarding $20 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) grant funding to State-based Marketplaces (SBMs) to increase consumer access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance coverage. The grants will be used by 21 SBMs to modernize IT systems and/or conduct targeted consumer outreach activities to help make health care coverage enrollment smoother. The 21 SBMs that received the ARP grant funding include the District of Columbia and the following states: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. States with a Federally-Facilitated Marketplace (FFM) were not eligible for this funding opportunity. Grant award amounts range from $500,000 to $1,107,392, and are based on the SBM model and number of successful applicants. The period of performance is from September 10, 2021 through September 9, 2022.

For more information on the 21 SBMs that received the funding and use of the funds, please visit this page on cms.gov.

ICYMI - ACS CAN is holding a Medicaid and Health Equity Series (previous webinars and materials available here).

Next in the series is Thursday, September 30th at 3pm ET/12pm PT for Medicaid in the US Territories: How Inequitable Funding Exacerbates Health Disparities, a virtual event exploring the role of Medicaid in Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories. Hear directly from patients, health care providers and Medicaid administrators in Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands about the importance of Medicaid in addressing health disparities, responding to natural disasters and the pandemic as well as the major problems caused by block grant funding for Medicaid and the uncertainty of supplemental funding which is set to expire on September 30.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, policymakers quickly realized not everyone would have access to video technology. Audio-only was quickly allowed as a modality. Now, policymakers are deciding whether the temporary audio-only policies should be permanent. Join this Center for Connected Health Care Policy webinar where panelists discuss what their Medicaid programs may decide, or have already decided, to do. REGISTER HERE

States received approval for temporary changes to their HCBS programs from CMS, within the Department of Health and Human Services to enable states to limit in-person contact to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This GAO report describes the temporary changes to Medicaid HCBS programs and examines CMS’s monitoring and evaluation of the effects of those changes.

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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 healthcare services and policies for children.