Bills filed to expand coverage for developmentally disabled children

Lawmakers in both the Missouri House and Senate have pre-filed bills that would expand health coverage for children living with developmental disabilities.

The bills – HB 399 in the House and SB 45 in the Senate – would make it so children living with conditions such as Down syndrome and cerebral palsy would be covered under health plans in Missouri. Currently, Missouri requires health plans to cover those inside the Autism spectrum.

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Number of US children in foster care rises for…

The population of youth in foster care in the United States has increased for the fifth consecutive year, according to a report from the federal Department of Health and Human Services. However, a national nonprofit publication said there are signs that number could be plateauing.

The annual Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System’s annual report showed 442,995 youth living in foster care as of Sept. 30, 2017. That is a 1.5 percent increase from the previous year.

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Progress on health coverage for U.S. children stalls –…

For the last decade, the U.S. has made steady progress on insuring its children — specifically moving from about 10 percent of children being uninsured in 2008 to about 5% in 2016. Troublingly, that trend seemed to go in the opposite direction in 2017, according to a recent report by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families (CCF).

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