by Stand for Health Freedom
The U.S. Department of Education wants to remove the “administrative burden” of requiring permission and consent from parents when they bill Medicaid on behalf of their children. They also want to remove the notification to parents that the services provided by the school are required by law, regardless of whether Medicaid pays for them.
Currently, there are a lot of comments simply stating getting a parent’s consent is unnecessary and removing the requirement will help cash-strapped, busy schools. Let’s bump up the voices of families!
It’s true schools need help, but letting them dip into funds from Medicaid to provide services they must provide anyway is bad policy. School billing can disrupt services outside of school, causing delays in care for children while leaving parents with out-of-pocket expenses and hours of sorting through red tape.
Participation is more important than perfection in comments here. These federal agencies discuss in their meetings how many comments they receive on proposed rule changes, so they know how far and how fast they can move.
We all know kids thrive when parents are involved. Instead, this proposed change is pushing parents out of the way.
With the rise in School-based Health Centers, and the lowering of minor consent to treatment without parents around, removing “unnecessary” informed consent of parents for billing is just another rock thrown at the family unit.
Please act today to protect informed consent of parents with kids in school.
For children’s health,
