This week, the Legislature has spent many hours discussing our state budget and just how Nebraska will invest in kids and families over the next two years. One important decision was the overwhelming rejection of an amendment that would have decreased funding for home visiting programs. Voices for Children has long…...
Budget makers need flexibility in funding Nebraska’s priorities
Earlier this week, we testified on LB 531, a bill to repeal the allocation of a portion sales tax revenue directly to roads. This reallocation of sales tax revenue prioritizes roads over education, health and other programs for years to come. While we acknowledge that investments in children and infrastructure…...
Cutting Our Future: The Medically Handicapped Children’s Program
The Medically Handicapped Children’s Program (MHCP) is a program that provides specialized medical services for families with children with disabilities or ongoing health care needs. These services can include case management, specialty medical team evaluations, access to specialty physicians, and payment of treatment services. Buried among the budget modifications in the recent…...
Cutting Our Future: Medicaid Provider Rates
Medicaid is an important lifeline for kids whose families would otherwise be unable to afford health insurance. Having health insurance, especially when kids are young, is a critical component of ensuring healthy development. In 2010, 69% of all Medicaid participants in Nebraska were kids. But having health insurance alone isn’t…...
Cutting Our Future: Behavioral Health Services
In 2008 during our state’s Safe Haven crisis, parents relinquished custody of 36 children to the state of Nebraska. Most of these children were struggling with behavioral health challenges that had left their families feeling helpless. The message was clear: Nebraska’s families and children weren’t getting the help they…...
Cutting Our Future: Prenatal Care for Low-Income Mothers
As you might remember, during the last legislative session, a bill was passed to restore prenatal care coverage under Medicaid for all low-income mothers regardless of immigration status or other issues of the mother. A large and diverse coalition of groups came together to support the restoration of this care. …...
Cutting Our Future: The Need for Juvenile Justice Reinvestment
Nebraska’s juvenile justice system may just be on the verge of a dramatic transformation. It’s not only the reform initiatives that are underway in certain parts of the state that signal change being around the corner. Buried on pages 419-429 of the recent Health and Human Services preliminary budget, is…...
