Gov. Roy Cooper released his two-year $25.2 billion budget proposal, a 5.4% increase over last year’s enacted budget, with a clear focus on education, health care, and the state’s infrastructure. Among the highlights was a 9.1% average raise for teachers over two years, a one-time 2% cost-of-living adjustment for retired state employees, and Medicaid expansion….
Public Policy: Advocacy in 2019 and Beyond
One of the most difficult aspects of advocacy is looking at all of the barriers that one might face and believing, despite all of it, that change is possible. The Autism Society of North Carolina has from the start been dedicated to using advocacy to improve the lives of individuals on the autism spectrum and…
NC General Assembly Adjusts State Budget
The North Carolina General Assembly wrapped up its regular short session in late June after a quick seven weeks. Short sessions focus on adjustments to the budget and passing bills that were still under consideration for both chambers the previous year. This year’s state budget (SB 99 State Budget Adjustments) comes in at $23.9 billion….
Update on changes proposed for Medicaid
Update, March 2021: If you are looking for more recent information about Medicaid Transformation, please visit this post. What is “managed care” and how is NC already managing the care of people receiving Medicaid? The federal government’s Medicaid program allows states to use health maintenance organization (HMO) managed-care models in the design of its…
Legislative Committee Studying Supports for Transition to Adulthood
The NC General Assembly created a legislative research committee to look at the needs of individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD), including autism. The committee is collecting information and hearing from various stakeholders in order to make recommendations to the General Assembly about the quality and quantity of services available to those with IDD…
URGENT: Tell Senators Not to Cut or Cap Medicaid
Congress plans to hold hearings Monday on a health-care bill that makes massive cuts to Medicaid, which includes funds for Innovations waivers, EPSDT services, and many other health and disability services. Analysis of previous health-care bills estimated that billions of dollars would be cut from Medicaid and 32 million people would lose health coverage, resulting…
Contact Congress about Health-Care Bill and Changes to Disability Civil Rights
Congress is back from its August break and has begun looking at various legislative actions that would affect people with autism and other disabilities, including changes to health care and to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Senate working on changes to Medicaid and individual health care The US Senate is considering a bill similar…
NC DHHS Releases Plan for Medicaid Reform
The NC Department of Health and Human Services has issued a proposed design for Medicaid managed care in North Carolina. The proposal gives individuals on Medicaid, families, caregivers, providers, and other stakeholders the opportunity to share feedback before DHHS submits a revised waiver to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the fall….
Tell US Senators to Vote No on Health-Care Bill!
The Senate is planning to vote on a “motion to proceed,” the first step in bringing a health-care bill to the floor for a vote early next week. At this time, it’s not clear which health-care bill will be voted on. Please keep the pressure up and ask your Senators not to cut or cap…