Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Bill would raise penalties for elder abuse

Patti's Comments:  Well done Kate and Elder Law of Michigan!

Excerpt from the Lansing State Journal: (click for entire article)

Citing an increase in abuse of senior citizens, state House Democrats unveiled legislation Monday to increases penalties for those who financially exploit vulnerable adults.

"Elderly abuse is a reprehensible act," said state. Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, lead sponsor of the legislation. "We want to bring a spotlight to it."

The legislation would increase penalties for financially exploiting vulnerable adults, who in most cases are seniors, making it punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $15,000 fine, or three times the value of stolen property, whichever is greater.

It also prohibits perpetrators from inheriting from the victim's estate.

The bill, which has yet to be voted on by the House, is designed to address what authorities say is a rise in those who exploit or steal from elderly family members. The crime has increased, officials say, as financial pressures in households have risen in the faltering state economy.

Expectations of Aging: Young vs. Old

Patti's Comments: Thanks again to the wonderful blog Time Goes By for alerting me to this very interesting report regarding aging. The report (and the blog in my humble opinion) are must reads for folks who are interested in this topic or that provide services to folks as they/we age.

Excerpt from the Time Goes By blog: (click for entire post)

Fifty-seven percent of people aged 18 to 64 expect to be afflicted with memory loss in old age, but only 25 percent of people 65 and older report such a difficulty. Forty-two percent of the younger group say serious illness will be a problem; only 21 percent of the older group report experiencing such.

In nine negative markers of aging, younger people expect growing old to be worse than it is.

NCD announces funding opportunities

From the National Council on Disability News List:

On June 25, NCD announced an additional funding (research) opportunity, NCD-09-03, United States Marine Corps Exceptional Family Members: How to Improve Access to Health Care, Special Education, and Long-Term Supports and Services to Family Members with Disabilities (http://www.ncd.gov/research_opportunity/requestforapplications.doc).

 

At the request of the U.S. Marine Corps, NCD will now undertake a one-year project to study the experiences of Marine Corps families with members with disabilities, and develop recommendations for improving access to services and supports for family members with disabilities. This project will focus on dependent family members of active service members, and not the service members themselves. While Marine Corps families have unique challenges, and the recommendations to be developed will be tailored specifically to their needs, it is anticipated that one result of this project will be a transfer of knowledge and lessons learned that will improve the quality of life for other military families, and civilian families with disabilities as well.

 

For additional information, please contact Julie Carroll at 202-272-2004 or jcarroll@ncd.gov.

 

On June 26, NCD announced funding (research) opportunity, NCD-09-04, Keeping Up: Technology’s Rapid Changes and Effects on People with Disabilities (http://www.ncd.gov/research_opportunity/EmploymentTech2009RFP.doc).

 

NCD is interested in evaluating how Americans with disabilities are faring in this new digital media age.

NCD is interested in examining the accessibility of new media and technologies developed, documenting successful development processes, understanding consumer needs, and identifying the facilitators and barriers to the technology transfer for employment purposes. Through this research, NCD will aim to educate designers about how specific new technologies intersect with the employment needs of individuals with disabilities. This research will aim to provide technology developers with knowledge on how their complex products can be developed in a cost-effective way and used to increase the employment of people with disabilities.

As part of this research, six new media sources and/or digital technology products will be analyzed for their utility in employment settings, and their accessibility to people with disabilities. This analysis should include market trends, potential consumers, facilitators and barriers to expanding the market to employment settings, industry practice, and accessibility.

NCD proposes to collect data on the experiences of people with disabilities in this new media environment; highlight accomplishments, and determine recommendations for how digital media accessibility for people with disabilities can be improved.

NCD hopes the information in this report will motivate and drive the development of new technologies that will improve the employment status of people with disabilities.

For more information, please contact Joan Durocher at 202-272-2004 or jdurocher@ncd.gov.

Mark S. Quigley
Director of External Affairs
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004
202-272-2008
202-272-2022 fax
www.ncd.gov

 

 

 

Reverse Mortgages Leave Seniors at Risk, GAO Says

Patti's Comments: Two sides to this story!

Excerpt from The Washington Post: (click for entire article)

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has left elderly borrowers vulnerable to abusive lending practices because of shortcomings in programs that offer reverse mortgages, according to a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office.

Reverse mortgages, which are usually backed by HUD's Federal Housing Administration, enable seniors to withdraw equity from their homes. The loan and the accumulated interest do not have to be paid back until the owner dies or sells the home. But the upfront costs are substantial.

While these loans have become more attractive to seniors as the economy has soured and housing values have dropped, reverse mortgages are complex. That is why the FHA has long required that the seniors take part in HUD-approved counseling sessions before these loans are processed. Yesterday's report concluded that HUD "lacks effective controls" over the counseling programs.

A National Voice for Special Education Rights and Excellence in Advocacy

From COPAA News:

Please distribute broadly; share with colleagues, friends, clients, and lists!

Help Parents Recover Expert Witness Fees and Level the Playing Field! 

PLEASE CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE ON THURSDAY, JULY 9.  ASK HIM/HER TO CO-SPONSOR THE IDEA FAIRNESS RESTORATION ACT, H.R. 2740. 

Dial 202-224-3121 (TTY 202-225-1904) and ask for your Representative.  See below for instructions on how to identify your Representative.

Few parents can afford the thousands of dollars needed to pay for expert testimony that is necessary to prevail in IDEA due process hearings and litigation.  But school districts can use tax dollars to employ and pay for psychologists and other technical experts.  Parents have fewer resources and yet must bear a greater financial burden.  The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act, H.R. 2740, is necessary to allow parents to recover their expert witness fees.  It will restore Congress’ original intent.  This bipartisan bill, introduced by Congressman Chris Van Hollen (Maryland) and Pete Sessions (Texas), will help level the playing field and make the right to due process meaningful for parents across America.

Over 185 organizations support the bill, including the Arc, the Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates, Inc. (COPAA), Easter Seals, National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS), National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC), National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), LDA, DREDF, TASH, CHADD, Center for Law and Education, Epilepsy Foundation, Autism Society of America, United Cerebral Palsy, Our Children Left Behind, and many others.  In addition, over 1100 individuals have signed a petition asking Congress to pass the bill.  Both the organizational and individual sign-ons will be posted on COPAA’s webpage shortly, www.copaa.org.

KEY POINTS TO SHARE WITH YOUR CONGRESSMAN’S OFFICE:

Why it's important to cosponsor the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act (H.R. 2740).

The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act will override the Supreme Court's decision in Arlington Central School District v. Murphy (2006) and allow parents who prevail in due process or litigation to be reimbursed for their expert witness fees. When prevailing parents cannot recover expert costs, the playing field is neither level nor fair, and children are denied a free appropriate public education and other fundamental IDEA rights.

·           Hiring qualified medical, technical, and other expert witnesses can cost many thousands of dollars.  Few parents can afford this high cost, putting due process out of reach for most parents, who already struggle to afford what their children with disabilities need.

·           School districts use tax dollars to pay for psychologists and other paid experts.  Parents have fewer resources and yet must bear a greater financial burden. Approximately 36% of children with disabilities live in families earning less than $25,000 a year; over 2/3 earn less than $50,000 a year.

·           Congress intended for parents to recover their expert witness fees in the Handicapped Children's Protection Act of 1986.  Allowing parents to recoup their expert fees simply restores Congress' original intent.

·           If due process is not affordable, the IEP process becomes even more one-sided and unfair.  School personnel control the IEP process and often vastly outnumber parents.  When the right to due process is meaningful, it helps ensure that school districts provide an appropriate education to children with disabilities.

·           Most parents turn to due process and litigation only as a last resort.  In 2003, the GAO reported that there were only 5 hearings per 10,000 special education students.  But when parents are forced into due process, they should be able to afford expert witnesses, without which, winning a special education case is virtually impossible.

 ·           Here are a few examples:

 "    A Pennsylvania a mother was forced to go to due process to implement the Independent Educational Evaluation recommendations for her child with severe dyslexia and a written expression disorder.  She had to borrow $1,400 to pay the evaluator to testify, and for two days of cross-examination by the school district.  The parent prevailed and the child received the reading instruction he needed. Before the Supreme Court’s Murphy decision, the mother could recover her expert fees; after Murphy, she would not.”

 "    Many attorneys in small/solo practices report being unable to take pro bono cases because neither they nor their clients can pay the expert fees.”

"    From a special education advocate in the Midwest, “Since [Murphy], I have had no fewer than three clients who had to withdraw their request for a hearing, and no fewer than five clients who wanted to request a hearing but did not, due to the fact that they could not afford witness fees and costs.”

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CALLING YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE ON THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2009.

On Thursday, July 9, 2009, please call your Congressional Representatives and ask him/her to cosponsor H.R. 2740, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act.  Ask friends, colleagues, clients, and family members to call too.  It will only take a few minutes.

Basic Instructions:  Dial 202-224-3121 (TTY 202-225-1904).  This is Congress’ main switchboard. Ask for your Congressperson's office.   When you are connected, it helps to ask for the Aide who handles education or disability.  If you get voicemail, please let a message.  Tell them you are a constituent and would like the Congressperson to co-sponsor H.R. 2740, the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act.   Use some of the talking points above. 

You can also find direct dial numbers for your Representative, including local numbers (if long-distance is too costly), on your Representative’s webpage at http://www.house.gov. We prefer that you call the Washington, D.C. number if you can.

How to Find Out Who Your Congressional Representative is:  If you do not know who your Congressional Representative is, go to http://www.house.gov and put your zip code into the box in the upper left corner.   (You usually only need your five digit zip code.) 

EVEN IF YOU ALREADY SIGNED COPAA’s PETITION, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO CALL CONGRESS DIRECTLY ON JULY 9.  We use the petition to show the breadth of support for the bill, but you need to call your individual Congressional Representative’s office directly on July 9.

PLEASE CALL INSTEAD OF USING EMAIL.  Many calls will attract attention to our cause, and Congress needs to hear from us.  But if it is impossible for you to call, then please email through http://www.house.gov/writerep  If you cannot call or use TTY because of a disability or other reason, we encourage you to contact Congress via email.  But if it is possible for you to use the telephone or TTY, please make a call.  Calls get more attention.

Please make a phone call on July 9, even if you've called or written Congress before.  If you can't call on July 9, it's okay to call afterwards.

SPANISH LANGUAGE INFORMATION.   (EN ESPAÑOL)

El jueves 9 de julio, llame por favor a su representante del Congreso, 202-224-3121 (TTY: (202-225-1904).  Pida que el congreso pase el acta de restauración de la imparcialidad de IDEA, H.R. 2740. Lea aqui en Español sobre los derechos de los padres a recuperar el costo de testigos expertos: http://www.copaa.org/pdf/MSSpanish.pdf

WANT MORE DETAILED INFORMATION?

Download COPAA's complete brochure on the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act with full talking points, http://www.copaa.org/pdf/MurphyBrochure.pdf

You can read H.R. 2740 here: http://www.copaa.org/publicpolicy/HR2740bill.php

You can read letters from over 185 disability organizations and nearly 1100 individuals supporting H.R. 2740 on COPAA’s webpage, http://www.copaa.org.

There is also a Spanish language brochure, http://www.copaa.org/pdf/MSSpanish.pdf

For more information about H.R. 2740 and this alert, please contact COPAA at protectidea@copaa.org  Please distribute this notice broadly; share with colleagues, friends, clients, and lists!

Thank you.
Bob Berlow and Jessica Butler
Government Affairs Co-Chairs
Denise Marshall, Executive Director
Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates, Inc. (COPAA)
a national voice for special education rights and advocacy
www.copaa.org
email: protectidea@copaa.org

Senior Care Reimbursement Overview

Patti's Comments: This is a nice but overly simple overview of the issues related to securing long term services and supports.

Excerpt from Golden Aging: (click for entire article)

Planning for long term care is complicated. Each person’s needs are unique, therefore, the cost of long-term care varies greatly. Some social and physical assistance is available for free or at a low cost, while very expensive nursing home or home health facilities can have an expense of $200 per day or maybe even more. There are many different ways to finance long-term care. You may need to use a combination of payment sources, which may include Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care insurance and other programs, in addition to your own resources.

Health is Wealth

Patti's Comments:  I could not agree more - Health is wealth.  This article summarizes Medicaid coverage and rules and has some good information.

Excerpt from the Health is Wealth blog: (click for entire post)

Medicaid provides public health insurance, premium assistance and long term care services for more than 55 million individuals who meet certain income and health-related eligibility criteria. Medicaid was created on July 30, 1965 through Title XIX of the Social Security Act. Each state administers its own Medicaid program while the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) monitors the state-run programs and establishes requirements for service delivery, quality, funding, and eligibility standards.Who is Eligible for Medicaid?  Medicaid does not provide medical assistance for all poor persons. States generally have broad discretion in determining which groups their Medicaid programs will cover and the financial criteria for Medicaid eligibility. However, for individual states to be eligible for federal Medicaid funding, there are certain mandatory Medicaid "categorically needy" eligibility groups for which Federal matching funds are provided:

State sued over cuts to disabled kids' care

Excerpt from The Seattle Times: (click for entire article)

Lawyers for three children with Down syndrome have sued in federal court to stop the state from cutting the hours of in-home care they receive.

The reduction in care is slated to begin Wednesday as part of sweeping budget cuts throughout the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). The plaintiffs maintain budget problems cannot legally be used as justification for cutting back the hours of care the children receive.

Caretakers for the young people — who range in age from 14 to 20 and receive Medicaid benefits — were notified last week that the state was cutting the number of hours they would be able to give their clients each month, the lawsuit says. The caretakers are paid with federal Medicaid funds that are administered by the state.

Down syndrome is a genetic chromosomal disorder that results in an array of symptoms including mental impairment.

According to DSHS, the cuts would affect approximately 3,100 disabled children and save the state about $3 million over two years.

Divertin Medicaid hurts people with disabilities

Patti's Comments: I agree with this!

Excerpt from The Herald News: (click for entire article)

Twice in my life I have been member of a distinct minority. Beginning in 1982, I was elected to the Kansas Legislature six times, a liberal Democrat in the Kansas House. The second is more recent — now a resident of Massachusetts, I am a fan of the legislators on Beacon Hill and the legislative process.

Growing up outside of Kansas City, I had few local role models to emulate. Instead, my inspiration came from the great progressives in the Northeast, giants with names like Kennedy and O’Neill, whose politics may have been local, but whose reach and influence were national, even global.

It was their policies of taking care of the most vulnerable — the poor, elderly and disabled — that inspired me to run for public office. Focusing on issues affecting people living with development disabilities, my career took me from Kansas to the Clinton Administration to various positions around the country. When I was hired to run the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers in Massachusetts in January 2007, I was thrilled to be coming to a state with such tremendous history.

But the progressive Massachusetts I grew to love may have been more image than reality. As the state’s fiscal resources have dwindled, I worry that the heart and soul of progressive Massachusetts, and the health and safety of the most vulnerable people in the Commonwealth, may be sacrificed.

Getting Insurance for One’s Frailest Years

Patti's Comments: Great story about long term care insurance.

Excerpt from The New York Times: (click for entire article)

In our house, we talk a lot about long-term care. My dad is 92 and afflicted by dementia and failing eyesight.

Luckily, I’m blessed with three wonderful siblings who do the hard work of caring for my father and making sure he can stay in his own home in suburban Detroit. But my visits from Brooklyn to spell my siblings are becoming increasingly complex, as my father needs more care and loses track of exactly who I am.

Meanwhile, all four of us share the financial burden of the extras that his limited budget and health insurance don’t cover: a part-time home care attendant, various prescription drugs not covered by his insurance, physical therapy sessions and endless incidentals like a new jacket or sheets and towels. We’re all happy to pitch in, but the costs add up quickly.

Like many people with elderly parents, I can’t help thinking there must be some way I can make sure my 8-year-old son doesn’t someday end up in the same situation when my husband and I need assistance. As one fellow boomer said recently, “I want someone to care about me when I’m older, but not necessarily care for me.”