Affordable Care Act
AFT President Randi Weingarten on the Supreme Court’s Delay in Ruling on the Affordable Care Act
Source: American Federation of Teachers
January 21, 2020
The Republican Party has made its hatred of the ACA central to its political dogma, and has done everything to undermine and end it. Central to this has been the GOP’s legal strategy to challenge the law’s constitutionality. Now, when it’s clear there are consequences to this strategy—that millions of American people, including those with pre-existing conditions, will be denied healthcare—the GOP is trying to have it both ways. End the law, but do it after 2020, hoping the electorate won’t notice.
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Supreme Court will not expedite review of ACA case
Source: American Hospital Association
January 21, 2020
Twenty states and the District of Columbia had petitioned the Supreme Court to review the decision this term. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last month ruled the ACA's individual mandate unconstitutional and sent the case back to the district court in Texas for the judge to take a "careful, granular approach" to determining which of the law's provisions could survive without the mandate.
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Libraries
OIF responds to Missouri legislation that proposes policies and procedures that threaten access to information
Source: American Library Association
January 16, 2020
Missouri House Bill 2044, introduced on January 8, 2020, proposes the creation of five-member “parental library review boards” to identify “age-inappropriate” public library materials and restrict access to those materials. The bill proposes criminal prosecution for librarians who make those materials available to minors and would deny funding to libraries that do not employ parental library review boards to restrict access to their materials.
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Medicare
Navigating Home Modifications Billing for Medicare-Covered Clients
Source: American Occupational Therapy Association
January 17, 2020
Medicare-covered clients are entitled, under law, to medically necessary services. Occupational therapy practitioners do NOT have the right, under current statutes, to “opt out” of Medicare. Any occupational therapy practitioner, even those who are not Medicare providers, must directly bill Medicare for any medically necessary skilled therapy services provided to Medicare-covered clients. Whether or not to bill Medicare for home modification OT services must be based on the occupational therapy practitioner’s clinical determination of whether the services are medically necessary.
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Cannabis
Congress Should Make Cannabis Research Less Cumbersome, APA Says in Written Testimony
Source: American Psychological Association
January 15, 2020
Congress should streamline the cumbersome, redundant and unnecessary regulations surrounding research on cannabis, making it easier for psychologists to continue studying its beneficial uses and developing effective treatments for its abuse, according to the American Psychological Association.
