Disability Thrive Initiative

Assembly Majority Floor Leader Chris Holden introduced legislation, AB 1715, that protects children with autism and other individuals receiving behavior analytic services. The bill ensures that only qualified professionals can provide this vulnerable population with quality care. Read more.

States say it’s harder and more expensive than initially predicted to coordinate care for the roughly 9 million people who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.

That population’s coverage cost about $319.5 billion in 2011, or 35% of total spending by Medicare and Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Read more.

For more than a year, the state has grappled with how to overhaul a tax on healthcare plans. Now, as Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal winds through the Legislature, there’s another question surfacing: What will the money be spent on?
The proposal got its first public hearing Wednesday. Legislators on the Assembly’s public health panel did not vote on the plan, but did hear a rundown of the complicated system of levies and tax breaks proposed to replace the state’s current tax on managed care organizations, which is set to expire in June. Read more.

Danny Thompson’s kidneys have failed and he needs a transplant but in some ways, he’s lucky: Both of his sons want to give him one of theirs, and his Medicare coverage will take care of most of his expenses.

Yet the 53-year-old Californian is facing another daunting obstacle: He doesn’t have the money for his share of the medical bills and follow-up drugs, and he can’t buy supplemental insurance to help cover his costs. “It’s frustrating to be in the shape I’m in,” said Thompson, who depends on dialysis instead of his kidneys to cleanse his blood. “My plan is to get a transplant so I can go back to work.” Read more.

After two decades of dissatisfaction with low provider reimbursement rates, insufficient state oversight and a gap in treatment for low-income children, Sacramento County is seeking to change a historically underused state dental program.

Sacramento is one of only two counties in the state where managed dental care (vs. fee-for-service care) is offered, and the only county where it’s mandatory for Medi-Cal families. Read more.

Californians should be outraged that, once again, individuals with developmental disabilities and their families are being shortchanged in Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget. The governor has proposed a tax on health plans that could generate funds for the developmental disability system, but passage is uncertain and the revenue is far from adequate to restore the $1 billion in funding cuts since 2008. Read more.

In September 2014, Federal law changed behavior services coverage for individuals diagnosed with autism. Now Medicaid/Medi-Cal are required to make this treatment a covered benefit for individuals with a diagnosis of autism who are under age 21. You will receive information from NBRC and Partnership Health Plan regarding this change, which will begin on February 1st, 2015; please see informational flyers below:

• AUTISM Services Change
• AUTISM Services Change Flyer-español