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

Timely Issue: Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2011 (S. 604)

Patti's Comments: Here are my letters to my Senator and Representative based on the suggestions from the ACA as outlined below.

Medicare Coverage of Licensed Professional Counselors – Senate Bill Introduced (6. 604)

From American Counseling Association:

Latest Information:
Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the Senate to establish Medicare reimbursement of licensed professional counselors and marriage and family therapists. As with previous versions of the legislation, the “Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2011,” S. 604, would cover only medically-necessary outpatient mental health services, and would reimburse licensed professional counselors and marriage and family therapists at the same reimbursement rates, and under the same terms and conditions, as clinical social workers.  ACA strongly encourages counselors to contact their Senators to ask them to cosponsor the legislation. If one of your Senators is already listed above as a cosponsor of the legislation, please thank them.

What You Can Do:
Please call or e-mail your Senators and ask them to cosponsor the "Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2011," S. 604. (Only Senators can cosponsor legislation introduced in the Senate.) Let your Senators know that this same legislation was passed by the Senate in both 2003 and 2005, and that private sector health plans have been covering counselors for many years. You can find out who your Senators are by visiting the ACA internet legislative action center at http://capwiz.com/counseling and entering your zip code in the box indicated. Senators and Representatives can be reached through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, and telling the operator which office you would like to be connected with.

Lawmakers join effort to curb use of 'R-word'

Excerpt from DesMoines Register: (click for entire article)

Lynn Holtzman wants Iowans to know something about her. “I’m not stupid,” she said.

Her friend Jessica Evans nodded her head in agreement. “I’m not stupid, either,” she said.

Both Des Moines women have been diagnosed with mental retardation, but that label doesn’t define everything about them. And they’re smart enough to know that other people shouldn’t throw around the word “retarded” as an insult to mean that something or someone is dumb.

Services help students with disabilities after high school

Excerpt from Wisconsin Rapids Tribune: (click for entire article)

Do your students with disabilities have questions like, where am I going to live after high school? Can I afford to live on my own? How am I going to get around town? What will I do for a job? Do I need help handling my money? Can I make my own healthy meals? What can I do for fun?

Whether students with disabilities are graduating after four years of high school or continuing through age 21, the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Central Wisconsin can provide information and assistance for life beyond high school. These services are for students with disabilities starting at age 17 years and 6 months, and their parents and guardians. ADRC-CW resource specialists can discuss long-term care options, future plans into adult programs and services available after high school, as needed.

Campaigners protest in London over disability cuts

Excerpt from BBC News: (click for entire article)

Activists campaigning for people with disabilities are carrying out what they are calling a "disruptive act of civil disobedience" in London today to protest against the government's Welfare Reform Bill.

The campaigners from disability groups and the group, UK Uncut argue that the new policies will cause hundreds of thousands of families to lose their homes or become "imprisoned" inside.

More Summer Programs in Washington for PWDs

Excerpt from Planet of the Blind: (click for entire article)

What:  The Department of Labor’s Student Summer Programs provide current students with experiential work experience as an integral part of the student’s course of study.  To ensure a productive experience for both the student intern or volunteer and the sponsoring agency, the Agency promotes an educational environment for the benefit of the student by offering substantive and developmental work, close and constant supervision and feedback, and sets clear expectations regarding the desired outcomes of the student’s internship or volunteer service.  The goal is to have at least 100 student summer interns and volunteers housed in the National Office and at least 80 student interns and volunteers in the regions during the 6-10 week summer program.
Website: www.dol.gov

Deadline: Students must submit all application materials (resume, cover letter, and short writing sample) to students@dol.gov by COB on April 6, 2012.
Who can apply:  Candidates must be U.S. citizens currently enrolled in an accredited educational institution.

Advocates for disabled worried about proposed budget cuts

Patti's Comments:  We are ADVOCATES FOR PEOPLE!!

Excerpt from Medicaid Waiver News: (click for entire article)

Local parents of disabled children met Monday to voice their worries about Gov. Rick Scott's proposed budget cuts, which some say will leave disabled Floridians without the help they need. About 40 parents and agency representatives who provide services to the disabled met at Goodwill Industries-Suncoast Inc. onWest Silver Springs Boulevard to voice concerns over insufficient funding for programs they say their children and clients need to live productive and meaningful lives.

Suzanne Sewell, president and CEO of the Florida Association of Rehabilitation, was the guest speaker. She is a lobbyist who represents organizations that work with disabled Floridians, including Goodwill.

Sewell warned that Scott's $66.4 billion budget proposes to slice nearly $38 million from Florida's Agency for Persons with Disabilities, leaving the agency with $772.5 million for the year beginning July 1.

The BEST Apps for AD/HD and Other Distractions

Excerpt from My Special Needs Network: (click for entire article)

In the aftermath of the holiday gift-giving of so many tech devices, we have been receiving more calls and email requests than usual over the past month for educational and organizational apps, particularly those for AD/HD.

In response to these requests, we have gathered here a collection of app lists helpful for the AD/HD community with credits to Mr. Mark Kawate, ADDitude Magazine, and the editors of the Reader’s Digest, respectively. We hope these organizational and educational resources will provide you or someone you know challenged with AD/HD the needed assistance to make each day just a little bit better.

We would like to hear from our readers, too. If you know of another great AD/HD app not included in the lists below, please tell us and our readers in the comment boxes below. We will certainly appreciate your input!

Military Families Tell Their Stories at Congressional Briefing

Excerpt from Autism Speaks Official Blog: (click for entire article)

Military families finally got their say before Congress today about the injustice of losing autism benefits for their children when they retire, even when due to being wounded in action. More than 100 members of the military and their supporters jammed into a Capitol Hill briefing today to talk about the special difficulties military families face caring for children with autism.

Hosted by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Congressman John Larson of Connecticut, the briefing also provided military families an opportunity to explain how they lose autism benefits once they or their spouse leaves active duty because of the current operation of the military’s TRICARE insurance program. A bill now before Congress, the Caring for Military Kids with Autism Act (HR.2288), would right that wrong by assuring that members of the military, regardless of their duty status are covered.

Cuts to Medicaid Programs Avoided Due to ADA Compliance Issues

Excerpt from PHI National: (click for entire article)

Separate court proceedings in California and Louisiana last week upheld the right of elders and people with disabilities to receive care in their homes under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

In California, federal judge Claudia Wilken issued a preliminary injunction on Jan. 19 blocking the state from enacting a 20 percent cut to the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, which provides care to nearly 450,000 elders and people with disabilities who have Medicaid.

The cuts were initially scheduled to take place on Jan. 1, but were temporarily halted by Wilken last December due to concerns that they violated the ADA. Wilken reiterated those concerns in her latest injunction.

Aging Groups Argue That Most Provisions Affecting Seniors Should Not Be Tied to Supreme Court's Ruling on Individual Mandate

Excerpt from PR Newswire: (click for entire article)

Six national aging groups filed a friend of the court brief with the Supreme Court last Friday saying that there are extensive provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that are of "vital importance to the health and well-being of people 65 and older" and that Congress did not intend for any of them to be contingent on whether or not the minimum coverage provision (also called the individual mandate) was constitutional.

"The health and quality of life of many older Americans are already improving because of the health reform law," says National Senior Citizens Law Center Executive Director Paul Nathanson. "We don't believe Congress intended to let the elderly poor languish in nursing homes or be subject to abuse if the individual mandate was found unworkable."

The amicus brief was filed in the National Federation of Independent Business et al v Kathleen Sebelius et al and the State of Florida et al v Department of Health and Human Services et al cases which challenge the constitutionality of the health reform law. In those cases, the petitioners contend that all of the ACA should fall if the minimum coverage provision is invalidated by the Court.