The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) took a couple of additional steps today to facilitate the state-level implementation of health care reform. HHS announced two measures to help states assure a simple and seamless enrollment experience for consumers who qualify for Medicaid or who are shopping for health insurance...
Is higher cost sharing an effective strategy for reducing health care spending? A new study published today in Health Affairs illustrates one of problems with the theory that increasing co-pays and deductibles will lead consumers to make more cost-effective choices about their health care. It suggests that decreasing co-pays may be the...
As most of you know, Tuesday 11/2 is election day. Please do not pass up this opportunity to make your voice heard at the polls. It is absolutely crucial that those of us who care about the well-being of kids and families cast our votes for candidates who share those priorities. For more information about the contests in Wisconsin and...
Historically, state laws have protected the privacy of children and youth involved in the juvenile justice system. This protection was rooted in the belief that not publicly exposing the youth was a critical factor in the youth’s rehabilitation and distinguished the juvenile court from the harsh and punitive nature of proceedings in...
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has released a report urging the business community to support early learning programs. The report, Ready Set Go: Why Business Should Support Early Childhood Education, looks at research on early learning opportunities for children from birth to age five, the impact on a child’s development, and the role of...
This week, October 24th – 31st is National Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. Remember, reducing children’s exposure to lead is one of the most identifiable and most easily remedied risk factors associated with a host of learning and behavior problems later in life. Parents, educators, community groups, and social workers can...
Campaign season is upon us, and that means calls by candidates to cut state spending significantly in order to close the gap in the state budget, currently estimated at $3 billion over the next two years. What these candidates don’t say is that trying to balance the budget through cuts alone will likely drive up property taxes and...
One of the latest campaign statements to draw the scrutiny of fact-checking journalists at the Journal Sentinel is an attack by lieutenant governor candidate Rebecca Kleefisch, who appears in a campaign ad with running mate Scott Walker that assails Tom Barrett for supporting “a government takeover of our health care.” PolitiFact gives...
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has recently agreed to hear the case of Omer Ninham, a young man (now age 26) who, at age 14, was convicted of homicide in a case in Green Bay. He was sentenced to life without parole. Building on the relatively recent ruling by the US Supreme Court that non-homicide youth must have at least some chance for...
On September 30, 2010, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Journal Sentinel published an article on the rate of domestic violence killings in the state of Wisconsin. According to reports from the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WCADV), who began tracking this data in 2000, in the year 2009, domestic violence deaths in Wisconsin...
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