Health Reform Heating Up With the Beginning of Summer
Congress is in recess until July 6th, so this is the perfect time to contact your representatives about making health care reform work for children and families. Voices for America's Children just launched its "Healthy Kids, Healthy Nation" campaign to ensure that the health needs of children are heard. Focused on Voices vision for health reform, the campaign demands affordable, comprehensive, and continuous health care for all children. ...[more]
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Home Visiting Included in House Draft of Health Reform
Following a June 9th House panel reviewing evidence-based home visitation programs, the tricommittee bill advances President Obama's proposal to provide 450,000 low-income families with voluntary home visiting services by the end of the decade. ...[more]
House Republican Conference Responds to Home Visiting Proposal
Bipartisan and bicameral support for home visitation in previous sessions helped the president's push for this new initiative, and for its inclusion as part of health reform. Led by Kit Bond (R-MO) in the Senate and Todd Russell Platts (R-PA) in the House, Republican support was always strong due to the program's effectiveness for child development, solid research base, and cost-effectiveness. ...[more]
Support sought for Legislation to Expand State Data on Children
In May, a bipartisan bill titled the "State Child Well-Being Index Research Act" (S. 1151/H.R. 2558) was introduced that would expand the state-by-state data available for how children are faring. The legislation expands the current National Survey on Children's Health, which collects information on nearly 2,000 children in every state, to include information on the full range of indicators of child well-being, and would collect the data on an ongoing basis instead of only every four years. ...[more]