The Senate Budget Committee unanimously passed Grassley's bipartisan amendment. The fund created by the amendment provides $300 million over the next five years.
Grassley and Sen. Ted Kennedy introduced the bill to create the state option last week. The Budget Committee vote today "increases the momentum for our initiative to improve health coverage for children with special needs and protect their household income," Grassley said.
The Family Opportunity Act of 2000 would allow parents to pay for Medicaid coverage on a sliding scale. No one would have to become impoverished or stay impoverished to secure Medicaid for a child. The legislation also establishes family-to-family health information centers, which would be staffed by parents of children with special needs as well as professionals. They would provide information to families trying to arrange health services for their children.
Grassley said the measure is needed because families with children who have special health care needs must strictly limit their income to qualify their children for both Medicaid and federal disability benefits. This means parents often refuse jobs, pay raises and overtime just to preserve access to Medicaid for their child with special health care needs.
"It doesn't make any sense for the government to discourage productivity. The existing policy forces these parents to chose between family income and their children's health care. That's a terrible choice, and our bill is intended to fix it," Grassley said.
The plan for parents of children with disabilities is modeled after the Work Incentives Improvement Act passed by Congress last year to let adults with disabilities can return to work and not risk losing their health care coverage.
The Family Opportunity Act has been sent for consideration to the Senate Finance Committee, where Grassley is a senior member.