Friday, November 06, 2009

Health Bill Includes Home Visitation


US senate
Originally uploaded by Bo Grünberger
The US Senate Finance Committee released the legislative language on the Healthcare Reform Bill - a whopping 1,502 pages! They call it "America's Healthy Future Act of 2009". The purpose is "To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes." Deeply embedded in there (Section 1801, pp 453-480) is a section on home visitation, I guess that's one of the "other purposes" referred to. You can imagine the excitement in the field of home visitation that there might be some resources finally put into our work. However!... the fact that we're looped into such a contentious bill is a little nervewracking. Anyway, here's the overview of what they wanting to do about home visitation programs:

13 ‘‘SEC. 511. MATERNAL, INFANT, AND EARLY CHILDHOOD
14 HOME VISITING PROGRAMS.
15 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are—
16 ‘‘(1) to strengthen and improve the programs
17 and activities carried out under this title;
18 ‘‘(2) to improve coordination of services for at
19 risk communities; and
20 ‘‘(3) to identify and provide comprehensive
21 services to improve outcomes for families who reside
22 in at risk communities.

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