Policy Corner: November 19, 2021

House Passes Build Back Better Act

The House of Representative passed the Build Back Better Act, a roughly $2.2 trillion package of spending and tax breaks to expand the social safety net and combat climate change. Among the provisions is one giving Medicare authority to negotiate prescription drug prices in an effort to lower prescription costs. The bill also:

• Expands healthcare coverage to those who previously fell within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage gap. Beginning in 2022 through 2025, the legislation expands the ACA’s premium tax credits to below 100 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and provides enhanced cost-sharing assistance.
• Provides funding to permanently extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to ensure that low-income children will always have access to quality, affordable health insurance.
• Provides $150 billion to expand access to quality home- and community-based services (HCBS) and care for older adults and people with disabilities, including brain injury. The bill includes provisions to improve provider payment rates and gives states the resources to improve their infrastructure for HCBS.
• Makes permanent the Money Follows the Person and the spousal impoverishment programs to help individuals with disabilities receive home-based services in lieu of institutional care.

BIAA Supports Funding for the CDC National Surveillance System

The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) joined other national organizations in a letter sent to House and Senate appropriators this week urging them to accept the House recommendations ($2 million) for appropriations for fiscal year 2022 for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control’s National Concussion Surveillance System. The Senate recommended half that level of funding. The Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Program Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Pub. Law 115-377) authorized $5 million to implement the surveillance system. This provision supports the recommendations of the Committee on Sports-Related Concussions in Youth, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council, which call for CDC to establish and oversee a national surveillance system to accurately determine the incidence of sports-related concussions. The U.S. Government Accountability Office also issued a report last year calling attention to the need to collect and report data to determine the incidence of brain injury related to domestic abuse. The proposed surveillance system would address those recommendations as well as the need for more comprehensive data regarding TBI among Americans of all ages.

President Signs Infrastructure Bill

President Biden signed H.R.3684, a bi-partisan infrastructure bill that provides $1 trillion in funding to address outdated roads, bridges, transit systems, broadband, and more. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act also requires new cars to be equipped with technology to prevent deaths and injuries related to drunk-driving. The new law also makes improvements to federal programs that support life-saving traffic safety efforts in the states and eases requirements to allow more states to qualify for federal safety grants and use of federal funds for a wider array of safety activities. Also included is funding to guarantee that transit stations are accessible, as called for almost twenty-five years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

ACL to Award Funding to Increase Public Health Workforce Expertise on Disability

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Community Living (ACL) announced Nov. 10 that it will receive $150 million to increase the public health workforce’s disability and aging expertise. It will also strengthen the collaboration with public health systems to support the health and safety of people with disabilities and older adults who are disproportionately affected during emergencies and disasters, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding will directly support wages and benefits for public health professionals within the disability and aging networks. The networks and organizations eligible to receive public health workforce funding include:

• Independent Living Centers
• Independent Living Designated State Entities
• No Wrong Door Systems/Aging and Disability Resource Centers
• Paralysis and Limb Loss Resource Centers
• Protection & Advocacy Systems
• State Assistive Technology Programs
• State Councils on Developmental Disabilities
• State Health Insurance Assistance Programs
• State Units on Aging/Area Agencies on Aging
• Traumatic Brain Injury State Partnership Programs
• Tribes and tribal organizations
• University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs)

Congress Recesses for Thanksgiving

As next week is Thanksgiving, members of the House and the Senate will be in their home districts. The Senate is expected to be in session Nov. 29 and both the House and Senate are to be in session Nov. 30. When members return, they will need to either pass appropriation bills to continue federal government passed Dec. 3, when the Continuing Resolution expires, or pass another short-gap funding measure. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

BIAA gratefully acknowledges the Centre for Neuro Skills and Avanir Pharmaceuticals for their support for legislative action. Click here to read past issues of Policy Corner.