- Millions of poor children could lose health care if Congress doesn’t act soon, By Natasha Rausch, December 1, 2017, Bloomberg: “States from Oregon to Massachusetts are scrambling to help millions of poor families whose children could lose coverage if Congress fails to reinstate a health insurance program that was approved two decades ago with bipartisan support…”
- Two months expired, Children’s Health Insurance awaits approval in a Congress mired in fighting, By Jessica Wehrman, November 29, 2017, Columbus Dispatch: “The federal program that provides health insurance to nearly 9 million low income children — including 219,000 in Ohio — expired two months ago, and states are beginning to panic that they’ll have to cut services to vulnerable families beginning early next year…”
- What happens if Congress doesn’t fund the health insurance used by almost 2 million kids and pregnant women in California?, By Sarah D. Wire, November 29, 2017, Los Angeles Times: “Unless Congress comes to an agreement fast, federal funding for a program that provides health insurance to 2 million California children and pregnant women will run out around the end of the year…”
- Congress has two months to act or 75,000 kids and pregnant women in Colorado will lose health insurance, By John Ingold, November 27, 2017, Denver Post: “In two months, when Alejandra Borunda’s 8-year-old son awakes screaming with one of his regular ear infections, she will pause before deciding whether to take him to a doctor…”
- Texas eager to avoid telling nearly a half-million kids — right before Christmas — that they’ve lost health coverage, By Jackie Wang, November 28, 2017, Dallas News: “Gov. Greg Abbott’s administration is trying to avoid mailing health insurance cancellation notices to nearly half a million children three days before Christmas. Unless it can get $90 million more in federal funding, though, Texas will end its Children’s Health Insurance Program on Jan. 31…”
Day: December 1, 2017
Basic Income Program – Ontario, CA
Canadian province experiments with ‘basic income’ payments to low-income people, By Rob Gillies (AP), November 29, 2017, Portland Press Herald: “Former security guard Tim Button considers how a sudden increase in his income from an unusual social experiment has changed his life in this Canadian industrial city along the shore of Lake Ontario. Sipping coffee in a Tim Horton’s doughnut shop, Button says he has been unable to work because of a fall from a roof, and the financial boost from Ontario Province’s new ‘basic income’ program has enabled him to make plans to visit distant family for Christmas for the first time in years. It has also prompted him to eat healthier, schedule a long-postponed trip to the dentist and mull taking a course to help him get back to work…”
US Children in Foster Care
- Number of American children in foster care increases for 4th consecutive year, By Richard Gonzales, November 30, 2017, National Public Radio: “A new government report says the number of children in the U.S. foster care system has increased for the fourth year in a row, due largely to an uptick in substance abuse by parents. The report, issued annually by the Administration for Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services, shows that 437,500 children were in foster care by the end of fiscal year 2016. A year earlier the number was 427,400…”
- More US kids in foster care; parental drug abuse a factor, By David Crary (AP), November 30, 2017, ABC News: “The number of children in the U.S. foster care system has increased for the fourth year in a row, with substance abuse by parents a major factor, according to new federal data released on Thursday. The annual report from the Department of Health and Human Services counted 437,500 children in foster care as of Sept. 30, 2016, up from about 427,400 a year earlier…”