The Michigan Council for Maternal
and Child Health office is located at 221 N. Walnut Street, Lansing, MI 48933 near the Capitol in downtown Lansing - click here for a map.
House Moves to Address Current Year Deficit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If agreed to by the Senate, schools would see the $154 per-pupil cut from this year
restored as the House passed a supplemental Wednesday approving the spending of
$312 million in federal education funds. The move immediately preceded action by the chamber to
remove $208 million for the School Aid Fund to shore up the shortfall in the
general fund.
While there was broad support for using the new
federal dollars to replace current year cuts to schools, the more
controversial measure to transfer money out of the school aid fund to
pay for community colleges -- essentially wiping out the general fund's
contribution for that funding this year and freeing those dollars to
fill teh general fund hole -- passed on a 57-47 vote.
Governor
Jennifer Granholm proposed the transfer last week as a way to deal with a
current year deficit of about $300 million. State Budget Director Bob Emerson
said options for plugging the hole were limited. Even if all of state government was shut down for the
remaining five weeks of the fiscal year, including prisons, the state wouldn't
save $200 million, he said.
House Speaker
Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) said it was either transfer the money or
withhold remaining revenue sharing payments for counties, cities, villages and
townships. And he said there is still a remaining balance in the SAF of about
$100 million, so schools are coming out ahead. Mr. Dillon said while it's unfortunate the Senate won't be
able to act on the transfer until after it returns September 7, he does expect
it to garner enough support in that chamber to pass. He said lawmakers would
take the next two weeks to negotiate the 2010-11 budget in the hopes of having
targets ready by Labor Day. _______________________________________________________________________
MCMCH Quarterly Meeting on Childhood Obesity September 13, 2010 - 12 to 2:00 PM University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
MCMCH
will hold a quarterly general membership meeting on Monday, September
13 to hear a distinguished panel present on the status of childhood
obesity research and trends in practice as well as current and future
policy alternatives to address the issue in Michigan. MCMCH members are encouraged to invite fellow staff members and guests
to this event as we look forward to an interactive session and a stimulating discussion on policy options.
Panelists are: - Matthew Davis, MD, MAPP, Associate Professor of
Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases & Internal Medicine, University of
Michigan Medical School; Associate Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; Director, Fellowship
Program in Pediatric Health Services Research; Director, University of Michigan
C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health; Co-Director,
Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program - Susan Woolford, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, University of
Michigan Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases; Medical Director
of the UM C.S. Mott Children's Hospital Pediatric Comprehensive Weight
Management Center - Joyce Lee, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, University of
Michigan Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases; pediatric endocrinologist; expert
in child obesity and diabetes
The event will begin at 12 noon and
lunch will be provided by our host,
C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital.
More information about how to register for this exciting opportunity
will be listed in future Friday Notes as well as sent to members
directly by e-mail. For a press release click here. _________________________________________________________________________
Education Seeks Groups To Host After-school Snacks, Dinners The Department of Education announced that it is need of
community partners to host after school meals and dinner for at-risk children.
Many children don't get enough to eat at home and since
research has demonstrated a link between quality nutrition and higher academic
achievement, the Department of Education's Child and Adult Care Food Program
offers an after school snack and supper Program in at-risk areas that can
improve the quality of nutrition for eligible students.
The program provides a cash reimbursement for snacks and
suppers served to children while in an afterschool program. Reimbursement is
for school-age children who are 18 years of age or under at the beginning of
the school year.
Interested groups and organizations can contact the CACFP
staff at 517-373-7391 for further information. To preview a sample CACFP
application, go to the program's website.
MDCH and Physician Organizations Remind Parents about New
Immunization Rules The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH), the
Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS) and the Michigan Osteopathic
Association (MOA) are recognizing August as Immunization Awareness Month. For
this upcoming school year, new immunization rules are in effect for all
children entering kindergarten, 6th grade and students changing school
districts. As part of the new rules, these students are required to receive
two doses of varicella vaccine. Also, all children 11 to 18 years of age who
are changing school districts or who are enrolled in the 6th grade are
required to receive one dose of meningococcal vaccine and one dose of
tetanus/diphtheria/acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine.
MSMS, MOA and MDCH encourage parents to make sure their
children are up-to-date on their immunizations. As you take your children in
for their checkups or sports physicals, it's a good opportunity to ask their
health care provider to check on their immunization status, including when to
return for the flu vaccine. For more information about immunizations,
visit www.michigan.gov/immunize. _________________________________________________________________________ Affordable Health Care Web Site HealthCare.gov puts the power of information at your
fingertips. Not only can you learn about how the Affordable Care Act affects
you, but you can also search for both public and private health coverage
options through a new, easy to use health insurance finder tool.
Based on your answers to a series of questions, the
insurance finder produces a menu of potential coverage choices - personalized
just for you.
We've made it even easier for you to search for coverage
options (or help others search for them) by developing a widget that you can
embed on your website. ________________________________________________________________________
Almost One-Quarter of U.S. Children Underinsured
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More than 14 million U.S. children (22.7%) were underinsured in 2007, according to the study, Underinsurance among Children in the United States,
conducted by researchers at the Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA) and published in the New England Journal of
Medicine. This
is more than the number of children without insurance at all during the
year (3.4 million) and the number of children who had insurance during
only part of the year (7.6 million).
The study drew data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health,a
nationally-representative study which looked at more than 91,000
children and examined underinsurance, or insurance that does not
sufficiently meet a child's needs. Researchers looked at children who
were never insured in the previous year, children who were insured only
part of the year and children who had health insurance throughout the
year.
The study asked parents three key questions:
whether parents thought that their child's health insurance offered
benefits or covered services that met his or her needs; whether the
child's health insurance allowed them to see needed providers; and
whether out-of-pocket costs were reasonable (not including health
insurance premiums or costs covered by insurance). The child was
considered underinsured if the parent did not answer "usually" or
"always" to all three of these questions, even if they were insured
throughout the year.
The interactive data for this survey is available online and is packed with very valuable statistical information including over 100 indicators of child health and well-being. ________________________________________________________________________
New Health and Academic Achievement Resources
CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) has just released new
student health and academic achievement resources that are based on an
analysis of the newly released 2009 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey
(YRBS) data.
The fact sheets and PowerPoint slides highlight strong associations between
the academic success of America's youth and their health. For example,
students with higher grades are significantly less likely than their
classmates with lower grades to have engaged in health-risk behaviors, and
students with lower grades are significantly more likely than their
classmates with higher grades to have engaged in health-risk behaviors such
as-
· Carrying a weapon
· Current cigarette use
· Current alcohol use
· Being currently sexually active
· Watching television 3 or more hours per
day
You can learn more about the relationship between student health and academic
achievement and download
the fact sheets and slides. The slides can be copied into presentations
and the fact sheets can be used as handouts. More information on the 2009
Youth Risk Behavior Survey data at the national, state, and local level is
available at http://www.cdc.gov/yrbs.
_______________________________________________________________________
Federal Health Reform Legislation - Michigan Analysis
The Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency has published a preliminary fiscal
analysis of the federal health reform legislation. The analysis
reviews key provisions of the legislation and the implementation timeline for
those provisions. Importantly, it also includes an initial analysis of
the legislation's fiscal impact on state and local government in Michigan.
A link to this analysis is included below for your information.
The analysis suggests that Michigan will likely realize financial savings in the early years of implementation, primarily through enhanced federal support of the
Medicaid program. However, those savings would decline over time as
that federal support tapers off.
The authors caution that this analysis is preliminary and that, given the
scope and complexity of the law, its actual fiscal impact remains unclear.
____________________________________________________________________
The upcoming Child Nutrition Reauthorization
in Congress will provide $1.2 billion for afterschool meals, free meals to
students in high-poverty schools, and increased summer meal programs. This is
in addition to $3.2 billion over 10 years "for establishing nutrition
standards [and] strengthening wellness policies." Reimbursement rates
will also increase. The nutrition standards will be revised by USDA to conform
more with the Institute of Medicine report "School Meals: Building
Blocks for Healthy Children," which recommends food-based instead of
nutrition-based standards, increases in the amount and variety of fruits,
vegetables, and whole grains, and limits on calories, saturated fat, and sodium.
____________________________________________________________________
Medicaid and Children's
Health Insurance Program~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Kaiser
Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has updated a brief, comparing the
Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program provisions in the new health
reform law with the pre-reform law governing those programs. The analysis
focuses on Medicaid coverage and financing changes, how Medicaid and CHIP will
interface with a new health insurance exchange, and other Medicaid benefits and access changes. The Foundation also has archived briefs that examine the
Medicaid provisions in previous versions of the health reform legislation that did
not become law. Overall, the new law includes an individual requirement to
obtain health insurance, a significant Medicaid expansion, and subsidies to help
low-income individuals buy coverage through newly established Health Benefit
Exchanges. All of the Foundation's key resources on health reform can be found
at our health reform gateway page.
