The Department of Public Welfare (DPW) has been instructed to require certain families to pay copays for services provided under Medical Assistance to children with disabilities. These copays will be for children under age 18, who qualify for Medical Assistance due to their disability and whose family income is more than 200% of the federal poverty level ($44,700 for a family of 4). The copays are likely to start before July 2012 and probably much sooner. DPW has not yet decided how much the copays will be or how they will be paid. This gives families and providers an opportunity to comment on how the copays should work. Several advocacy and provider organizations have developed a set of recommendations for how copays should be structured and implemented: you can read the recommendations here. If you believe that DPW should follow these recommendations to ensure that copays do not burden families or threaten children's access to crucial services, please sign below. For more information, contact David Gates at the PA Health Law Project at dgates@phlp.org.

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