Medicaid

• WESTMINSTER, Colo., March 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ignite Counseling Colorado, a leading provider of counseling services in the Denver metro area, is thrilled to announce its relocation to a new, expanded healing space strategically located at 8670 Wolff Court, Suite 290 Westminster CO 80031.
• Specializing in OCD, Trauma, and Addictions, Ignite Counseling Colorado offers evidence-based treatments such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy, and Prolonged Exposure therapy, the expanded space allows Ignite Counseling Colorado to broaden its range of services and accommodate a growing clientele.
• Ignite Counseling Colorado's new facility not only underscores its dedication to client-centered care but also reflects its vision of building a resilient and thriving community.
• ~ Carla D'Agostino-Vigil, Founder and Clinical Director
  To learn more about Ignite Counseling Colorado and its comprehensive range of counseling services, please visit ignitecounselingcolorado.com .

• In Philadelphia, the poorest big city in the U.S., the minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour for the past 15 years.
• That’s the minimum wage everywhere in Pennsylvania, and it matches the federal minimum wage.
• However, minimum wage workers in other big American cities earn significantly more: $16 an hour in New York and $15 an hour in Boston, for example.

Why is Philly’s minimum wage so low?

• The biggest factor is that Philadelphia does not have the authority to create its own minimum wage – one that could appropriately reflect the city’s cost of living.
• Pennsylvania does not allow local governments to raise the minimum wage above the state level of $7.25 an hour.
• In June 2023, Pennsylvania’s Democratic-controlled House passed a bill to raise the minimum wage statewide incrementally to reach $15 an hour by 2026, but it stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate.

How many Philadelphians make minimum wage? What sort of jobs are these?

• As of 2018, roughly 9% of employed Philadelphians age 16 or older made $7.25 an hour or less.
• In fact, in Philadelphia, only 7% of workers earning minimum wage are teens.
• Philadelphians who make minimum wage or less tend to be employed in four sectors: hotel and food services, retail trade, health care and social assistance, and educational services.
• Geographically, they’re most concentrated in North, Northeast and Southwest Philadelphia — areas that are traditionally lower income.

Who does this most hurt?

• In 2018, nearly 4 in 10 Pennsylvanians struggled to pay for basic expenses.
• Many families get stuck in a cycle of poverty even while adults are working full time.
• This limits the resources the city has to invest in infrastructure, clean streets, parks and other public places and services.

Who most benefits?

• The less they have to pay staff, the more money stays in their coffers.
• But that’s a shortsighted stance that doesn’t take into account the larger financial implications a low minimum wage creates: primarily, the high cost of employee turnover.
• Recent studies have shown that the average cost of turnover is 40% of a position’s annual salary.

What would be needed for Philly to raise its minimum wage?

• To expand this to all workers, Philly would need to be given the power to make change for itself and not be beholden to Harrisburg’s decision on minimum wage.
• Responding to a nonbinding ballot question in 2019, Philadelphia voters voiced overwhelming support for a $15-an-hour minimum.
• This is how other cities like Washington and Tacoma, Washington, that eventually passed an increased minimum wage, began their efforts.

• His work has been funded by Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation, The Neubauer Family Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson foundation, The Philadelphia Department of Public Health, The Independence Public Media Foundation, and The Commerce Department for The City of Philadelphia.
• Alicia Atkinson works for the Wealth and Work Future Lab at the Lindy Institute through Drexel University.

• The Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) jointly launched a cross-government public inquiry into private-equity and other corporations’ increasing control over health care.
• Private equity firms and other corporate owners are increasingly involved in health care system transactions, and, at times, those transactions may lead to a maximizing of profits at the expense of quality care.
• The cross-government inquiry seeks to understand how certain health care market transactions may increase consolidation and generate profits for firms while threatening patients’ health, workers’ safety, quality of care, and affordable health care for patients and taxpayers.
• The RFI also requests information on transactions that would not be reported to the Justice Department or FTC for antitrust review under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.
• “This RFI will enable the agencies to accurately understand the modern market realities of the health care industry and forcefully enforce the law against unlawful deals.

• This strategic alliance comes at a pivotal juncture with the recent approval of the New York 1115 Medicaid Waiver.
• "Our partnership with Unite Us is more than just a collaboration; it's a fusion of strengths," said Alyza Tarmohamed, CEO at Foothold Technology.
• Unite Us and Foothold are already collaborating with health homes across New York State, such as Coordinated Behavioral Care and Hudson Valley Care Coalition, among others.
• "This partnership between Foothold Technology and Unite Us introduces a groundbreaking framework for our care managers and providers, enhancing how we connect and serve our community," said Pamela Mattel, CEO of Coordinated Behavioral Care.