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

The Challenges of Living with Invisible Pain or Illness

Excerpt from Psychology Today: (click for entire article)

In May of 2001, I got sick with what the doctors thought was an acute viral infection. But I didn't recover. As the months went by and I didn't get better, I felt as if I'd entered a parallel universe that I didn't know existed. One reason this universe is largely invisible is that many people living with chronic pain or illness don't look any different from those around them. We simply don't look sick or in pain.

I should qualify that. The people who are with us all the time know that we are suffering. They see those subtle differences in our demeanor when our symptoms intensify. These are our caregivers (called "carers" in many countries) and they inhabit this parallel world with us. At the end of this piece, I'll talk about the unique challenges they face.

Support for states to build sustainable partnerships for housing $1.98 Million in Real Choice Systems Change Grants awarded to six states

Excerpt from HHS.gov: (click for entire article)

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the award of $1,980,000 in grants to six states to develop sustainable partnerships with State Housing Agencies.  These Real Choice System Change Grants will result in long-term strategies to provide permanent and affordable rental housing for people with disabilities who receive Medicaid services.

“The Obama administration is committed to helping Americans with disabilities live independent lives,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “The Real Choice System Change program and the productive partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Development will help many people with disabilities get the housing support they need.”

Guide Looks To Help Parents Tackling Challenging Behavior

Excerpt from Disability Scoop: (click for entire article)

A new guide out this week aims to help parents as they contemplate medicating their kids to address challenging behaviors often associated with autism.

The 21-page download offers a series of pros and cons families can weigh when considering medication alongside worksheets to help parents sort out their feelings on the issue.

It was developed by clinicians affiliated with Autism Speaks’ Autism Treatment Network, a group of medical providers at 17 sites throughout the country that work together to identify effective approaches to treating autism.

US Labor Department announces $3.8 million in continued funding to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities

Excerpt from United States Department of Labor: (click for entire article)

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy today announced a total of $3,787,000 in continued funding for organizations managing consortia that develop models, provide technical assistance and share best practices to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

"Many employers know that incorporating the talents of all employees and potential employees, including those with disabilities, is a key to success," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "Today's federal grants will help to better connect employers with qualified individuals with disabilities so their skills and unique capabilities will no longer be untapped resources."

Best Hospitals 2011-12: the Honor Roll

Excerpt from U.S. News: (click for entire article)

A place on the Best Hospitals Honor Roll is reserved for medical centers that demonstrate unusually high expertise across multiple specialties, scoring at or near the top in at least six of 16 specialties. Just 17 of the nearly 5,000 hospitals evaluated for the 2011-12 rankings qualified. Hospitals with the highest scores in a given specialty received 2 Honor Roll points; those with slightly lower scores received 1 point.* Honor Roll standing was determined by the total number of Honor Roll points across all 16 specialties.

How to Obtain IRS Forms and Publications

Excerpt from Daniel Stoica: (click for entire article)

The Internal Revenue Service has free tax forms and publications on a wide variety of topics.  Due to the continued growth in electronic filing, the availability of free options to taxpayers and efforts to reduce costs; the IRS will no longer be automatically mailing paper tax packages.

If you need IRS forms, here are four easy methods for getting the information you need.

    On the Internet You can access forms and publications on the IRS website 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at http://www.irs.gov.

Will Ford Refuse To Share Profits With Its Workers After Paying Its CEO $26 Million?

Excerpt from Think Progress: (click for entire article)

The United Auto Workers and General Motors are close to finalizing a new contract, following the first contract negotiations to take place between the two since GM was rescued by the Obama administration. But the UAW is still working on a deal with Ford, the only one of Detroit’s big three companies to turn down government aid.

Ford has had nine profitable quarters in a row, and paid its CEO, Alan Mulally, $26.5 million last year. But at the same time, it is fighting against giving its factory workers their fair share of the profits from the company’s success:

    At The Rouge, Ford’s massive, 94-year-old factory complex in Dearborn, Mich., there’s talk along the assembly lines of winning back raises and bonuses lost when the company was near financial collapse in 2007. Workers, who assemble F-150 pickup trucks at the site, are upset that Ford is trying to cut labor costs, especially after nine straight profitable quarters and a $26.5 million pay package for CEO Alan Mulally.

Let taxpayers foot sex-op bill: panel

Excerpt from New York Post: (click for entire article)

From same-sex marriage to sex-change surgery!

A state panel advising Gov. Cuomo wants taxpayers to foot the bill for transgender residents to get “sexual-reassignment surgery,” allowing them to change their physical characteristics from a man to a woman or woman to man, The Post has learned.

New York’s costliest-in-the-nation Medicaid program would cover the tab.

“Provide Medicaid coverage for transgender surgery/hormone replace-ment therapy and treatment,” read the proposal submitted by the state “health disparities work group.’’

CMS to Pay Monthly Medical-Home Fee of $20 per Patient

Excerpt from Medscape: (click for entire article)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) put a price tag on the much-discussed medical-home concept when it unveiled a plan yesterday to strengthen primary care through new test models for delivering and paying for services.

Physicians participating in the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative (CPCI) will receive a monthly care-management fee on top of their usual Medicare fee-for-service reimbursements during a 4-year trial run. CMS will initially pay clinicians an average of $20 per Medicare beneficiary per month in the first 2 years. Actual payments will range from $8 to $40 per month because of risk-adjustments based on patients' claims histories and medical status. The agency also will adjust care-management fees up or down to reflect geographic differences in costs.

Analysis: States lobby against Medicaid cuts in Congress

Excerpt from News Daily: (click for entire article)

With billions of dollars in Medicaid spending at risk in Congress, states are forming a loose confederacy to oppose any federal cuts that could damage state budgets already awash in red ink.

The "red" and "blue" states that mark America's political divide between conservative and liberal sympathies are often far apart on issues involving healthcare, including Medicaid, the $420 billion-a-year program for the poor.