In addition to Article 3 and Article 17 (Northstar Care for Children), there are other areas within Chapter 108 (the omnibus Health and Human Services finance bill) that are directly applicable to children and families involved in the child welfare system. These are just a few.
Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Youth
The Safe Harbor bill I highlighted back in March was included in the final omnibus bill, and is now law.
Impact of the Affordable Care Act
MinnesotaCare and medical assistance are modified under Chapter 108. Most of the modifications will be effective as January 1, 2014. What follows is my best interpretation of Article 1, which outlines these modifications.
Medical assistance will be available to:
- children under the age of 19 and infants under age 2 who have family incomes up to 275 percent of the federal poverty guidelines (FPG),
- youth ages 19 to 20 with family incomes up to 133 percent FPG (established under Chapter 1 of 2013 session laws),
- parents, stepparents, and caretaker relatives of children under age 19 with family incomes up to 133 percent FPG, and
- adults 21 years of age and older who do not have children and who are not eligible for supplemental security income program who have family incomes up to 133 percent FPG.
Medical assistance will also be available to youth who turned 18 in foster care who are under the age of 26 and who had received medical assistance under the state plan or a waiver of the plan while in care. It is unclear (to me) whether these youth will receive medical assistance regardless of their family income until age 26, or if they would fall under the child and adult categories listed above.
Applying for and renewing medical assistance has been made slightly easier for clients as well. Applications will now be accepted via phone, mail, and website, as well as in-person and “through other commonly available electronic means” (possibly email?). Also, 6-month renewals can be done using existing information in the client’s case file as well as information obtained through electronic databases; if there is not enough data, forms are to be pre-populated with existing information so that the client must only provide corrected and/or additional needed information.
MinnesotaCare is likely to become a basic health program under the Affordable Care Act. This program will be available to families with children with family incomes between 133 percent and 200 percent FPG. The requirement that children must also enroll in MinnesotaCare should the parents enroll has been removed. Additionally, individuals can no longer be eligible for both medical assistance and MinnesotaCare. These two changes mean that when family incomes rise above 133 percent FPG, parents will be transitioned to MinnesotaCare (until family income hits 200 percent FPG) while their children under age 19 remain in the medical assistance program.
Performance of Human Services
Article 5 requires a “performance management system for essential human services” to be in place by January 1, 2014, with an advisory group (Human Services Performance Council) established by October 1, 2013. This system is defined as
a process by which performance data for essential human services is collected from counties or service delivery authorities and used to inform a variety of stakeholders and to improve performance over time.
The Human Services Performance Council will have several duties related to improving human services; for example, the Council will review progress on performance improvement plans (PIPs) in order to make recommendations to the commissioner of human services, make recommendations to repeal rules or statutes to improve service delivery, and advise the commissioner on training and technical assistance needs, among other duties.
Over the next few posts, I will be continuing to review some of the other changes that can be tied back to child welfare. In the meantime, what do you think of these changes? How will they impact you, your practice/work, or your clients? Leave a comment below!
