Feb
04
2008
Negotiations continued this week over an economic stimulus package, as the House passed its version of the bill, which represents a compromise with the Bush Administration. This version does not include increases in Medicaid payments to states, which BIAA strongly supports.
Last week, BIAA signed on to a coalition letter urging House and Senate leaders to temporarily raise Medicaid reimbursement to states in order to prevent states from being forced to make cutbacks in essential state services. Such essential Medicaid services include health care and long-term services and supports, which are often especially important to individuals with disabilities.
As Senate negotiations go forward next week, BIAA will continue advocating for the inclusion of provisions in the stimulus to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates to states.
Feb
04
2008
President Bush signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (H.R. 4986), containing important wounded warrior provisions related to TBI care which BIAA actively lobbied for last year, into law on Monday.
One of BIAA’s policy goals for 2008 will be to monitor the implementation of the important TBI provisions contained in this bill. (The December 14, 2007 edition of Policy Corner contains more detailed information on these TBI provisions. You can access this issue, as well as all other archived issues of Policy Corner, by visiting BIAA’s webpage at http://www.biausa.org/policycorner.htm).
In a related development, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) expressed disappointment that the President did not publicly acknowledge the full implications of the wounded warrior provisions contained in this bill. Hours after signing the bill, in his State of the Union speech, President Bush called on Congress to enact recommendations made by the Dole-Shalala Commission to “improve the system of care for our wounded warriors.” Yet, many of the Commission’s recommendations were addressed in the defense authorization bill.
“It’s kind of surprising, and I think it creates an impression that there’s work that’s still ahead of us, when much of it was done in record time,” Levin said, in a Jan. 30 article in CQ Today.
According to CQ Today, in response to Sen. Levin’s comments, the White House pointed to a major revision of the veterans’ disability system which remains to be acted upon.
