New Legal Guidance and Resources to Ensure -- and Expand -- Access to COVID-19 Vaccines for People with Disabilities and Older Adults
Secretary Becerra Announces Illinois Post-Partum Coverage Available to Medicaid Eligible Women up to 12 months, and New Investment in Maternal and Obstetrics Care in Rural Communities
New Data: Medicaid expansion and 12-month continuous eligibility for pregnant and postpartum women under the American Rescue Plan can play an important role in ensuring continuity of care and aid in combatting disparities in maternal mortality rates
As part of a shared commitment to President Biden's National Strategy - PDF and Executive Order to ensure an equitable COVID-19 response, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Administration for Community Living (ACL), and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have published several new resources to help states, vaccination providers, and others leading COVID-19 response activities improve access to vaccines for people with disabilities and older adults. These resources clarify legal requirements, illustrate some of the barriers to vaccine access faced by people with disabilities and older people, and provide strategies – and examples of how the aging and disability network can help employ them – to ensure accessibility.