The spread of COVID-19 has highlighted the health and economic consequences faced by working people when they lack access to paid sick days and paid family and medical leave. Our society is only as healthy as its most vulnerable members. Now more than ever, we must recognize that we all have a stake in ensuring that working people have access to paid sick and safe days and paid family and medical leave.
CDF joined other children's health organizations to express concerns regarding Indiana's proposal for a ten year extension of its section 1115 demonstration project. The evidence is clear that premiums and copayments decrease participation in health coverage and impede access to care and that unnecessary work requirements will lead to thousands losing coverage.
As you work quickly with your Congressional colleagues to pass new legislation to address the devastating public health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, the Children’s Defense Fund urges you to include in the next package a number of critical provisions to protect our nation’s children and families.
CDF was one of over 600 organizations calling for the House to address two major provisions of the proposed COVID-19 relief bill that would exclude millions of immigrant families, including U.S. citizen children. We cannot protect the nation from the Coronavirus and its economic impact if we deny health care and financial relief to a large segment of our communities.
The Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) program is a vital investment in strengthening the pediatric workforce and access to care for children, but sustaining pediatric training programs requires bolstering our national commitment. Because of this, we joined other leading children's health organizations in calling for $465 million in FY2021 funding for the program.
CDF joined over 140 organizations in urging members of Congress to co-sponsor the Paid Sick Days for Public Health Emergencies and Personal and Family Care Act (S. 3415/H.R. 6150) and advocate for its swift passage. Our society is only as healthy as its most vulnerable members. We all have a stake in ensuring paid sick days for public health emergencies and for personal and family care.
Any comprehensive response to the coronavirus should include emergency assistance funding to help prevent housing instability and homelessness as a result of the outbreak. An emergency assistance fund would provide both short-term financial assistance and stability services to help households with the lowest incomes overcome an unforeseen economic shock that threatens their housing stability.
Early childhood education programs are essential for the millions of children and families they serve, and are particularly crucial during emergency public health and economic crises. But their success is contingent upon receiving the robust investment they need to take necessary steps and precautions. We urge lawmakers to act swiftly to allocate substantial emergency flexible funding directly to the child care and early learning systems in this country.
The Title V MCH Block Grant is a cost-effective, accountable, and flexible funding source used to address the most critical, pressing, and unique needs of maternal and child health populations. CDF joined 80 organizations to urge Congress to properly fund these services in the FY2021 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education & Related Agencies Appropriations bill.
Vulnerable populations need coverage that ensures them access to affordable and comprehensive quality care. When Medicaid beneficiaries cannot find a clinician who accepts new Medicaid patients, they face the same access problems as those who have no insurance. Appropriate and adequate payment is essential to ensure the viability of the primary care workforce to provide such care. As such, we fully support the Kids’ Access to Primary Care Act of 2020.