The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Plans circulating in Congress to modify the Medicaid health care program threaten to put millions of America’s most vulnerable citizens – minorities, seniors, children, and people with disabilities – at risk, warn civil and human rights advocates.

The Campaign for Better Care (CBC), a campaign to ensure that health reform works for older adults with multiple health problems, launched an initiative this week focused on engaging patients and caregivers in improving hospital care to reduce preventable hospital-acquired illnesses and readmissions.

The civil and human rights community is urging the Senate to vote down legislation that would cut all funding to Title X programs, which was passed by the House of Representatives today. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence, R. Ind., is part of the FY2011 Continuing Resolution, which would fund the federal government through the end of September.

Despite some progress, the majority of states received an "unsatisfactory" grade in an annual report card on women's health issued by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). Only two states – Massachusetts and Vermont – received a "satisfactory" grade, while the District of Columbia and 11 other states received a failing grade.

Guest Post by Sophie Milam

This year, Congress is considering legislation that would strengthen several nutrition programs critical to the well-being of our nation's children. With one in four children struggling with hunger and one in three obese or overweight, reauthorizing the nation's two cornerstone child nutrition laws – the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act – collectively known as Child Nutrition Reauthorization could not come at a more critical time.