The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) has a substantial agenda on Wednesday (Jan. 8) when it finally considers the budget items from the committee’s postponed Nov. 6th “section 13.10” meeting, as well as seven of the eight mental health bills that were referred to the committee in mid-November (which I’ll summarize in tomorrow’s WCCF blog...
Shortly before Christmas, Governor Walker signed a bill that delays the major changes to BadgerCare (contained in the biennial budget bill). The following changes, which were originally supposed to take effect on January 1, are being delayed by the Special Session bill until April 1: Reducing eligibility for parents and caretakers, as...
Progress has been made in Wisconsin in recent years in reducing the number of youth who have not committed a crime being locked up with youth who have. But, we can do better. These "status offenders" are often truants who fail to comply with court orders to attend school or habitual runaways that frustrate the court's attempt to get...
New Bill Will Hasten the Reduced BadgerCare Income Limit for Parents Applying for Coverage, while Aligning Eligibility Standards In a December 30th letter to state legislators, the Department of Health Services (DHS) explained that it will soon be proposing new BadgerCare legislation to modify the provisions of the Special Session bill...
The federal government announced today that it is awarding Wisconsin a 2013 bonus of $13.9 million for the state’s success in improving children’s access to health care through the BadgerCare program. The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 authorized performance bonus payments that pick up a larger share of...
It’s very seldom that I find myself in agreement with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Thus, it was a big surprise to find that we see eye to eye regarding the importance of extending or reinstating federal unemployment benefits, which are set to expire at the end of this week (on December 28th). Michael Strain of AEI nicely...
We reported earlier in the year the results from the Annie E. Casey KIDS COUNT annual review of the well-being of children that Wisconsin, although having a lower child poverty rate than the national average, was slipping in comparison to other states. A more recent release from the "Half in 10" campaign has Wisconsin ranking 18th, not...
Dec. 23 Deadline Extended One Day; Key Deadline for Purposes of the Mandate is March 31 December 24, 2013, is a key date for health care reform across the U.S. Thanks to a one-day extension, announced today, midnight on December 24th is now the deadline for signing up for coverage in the federal health insurance marketplace in order to...
As the new year rapidly approaches, there has been considerable discussion and confusion about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provision requiring most Americans to either have health insurance beginning in 2014 or face a penalty (often called the “Individual Mandate”). A significant part of that confusion concerns the state and federal timelines and deadlines for obtaining coverage.
The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families has just completed a policy brief, YoungStar in Wisconsin: Analysis of Data as of July 2013. The YoungStar child care quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) is a breakthrough policy initiative that has great promise to transform child care in Wisconsin by helping parents make good...
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