As American families struggle to rebound from the health and financial impacts of the pandemic, some of the protections put in place to shield children and families will wind down when the Biden administration ends its declaration of public health emergency (PHE), currently set to expire on July 15. We will know by May 16 whether or not Health […]
Pennsylvania children risk losing health coverage unless the state acts to protect them | Opinion
The pandemic has brought no shortage of challenges to our country in the past two years. One silver lining, however, has been the uninterrupted access that children have had to health coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Nearly half of all children in the United States are insured through these programs, according […]
Report: PA Funding Can Boost Academic Success Starting in Pre-K
With negotiations for Pennsylvania’s budget under way, a new report unpacks the state’s investment in early-childhood education. Advocates hope it can sway lawmakers to boost funding in the budget. Gov. Tom Wolf’s final budget proposal includes a $70 million increase in pre-K funding. In the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children report, the Commonwealth ranks 14th for per-capita funding, […]
Pennsylvanians on Medicaid risk losing health coverage when COVID emergency ends
For the past two years, people on Medicaid in Pennsylvania have been guaranteed continued health coverage — even if they’re no longer eligible. That’s because of a provision in the Families First Coronavirus Recovery Act, which requires that states keep everyone on Medicaid as long as the country is under a public health emergency. But that emergency status is likely ending soon — and state officials predict at least 500,000 Pennsylvanians will lose their health insurance when it does.
Under a new threshold, the number of Pa. children with high lead levels is expected to almost double
Data from the 2020 Childhood Lead Surveillance report from the Pennsylvania DOH showed the rate of children with elevated blood lead levels to be about 4.65. This is a rate two times higher than children poisoned in Flint, Mich., at the peak of the city’s crisis, according to a recent statement from the Lead-Free Promise […]
