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

Fearing death, doing good

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

Researchers say that having to think about death can bring out the good in people. At the University of Missouri, Kenneth Vail reviewed experiments involving thinking about death, and assessments of how people who were not directly involved in catastrophes responded after learning about them.

Mulligan: The EITC Discourages Work for Most Taxpayers

Excerpt from TaxProf Blog: (click for entire article)

New York Times:  Do Tax Credits Encourage Work?, by Casey B. Mulligan (University of Chicago, Department of Economics):

    The earned-income tax credit is often said to encourage work, but it may do just the opposite. ... The chart below shows the credit’s schedules for the 2011 tax year as a function of annual earned income for a given family situation (other family situations have the same basic shape). The schedule shown illustrates the mountain-plateau pattern described above: an increasing portion for the lowest incomes, a flat portion, a decreasing portion and then finally a flat portion of zero.

Does “Eligible for Special Ed” Mean an IEP?

Excerpt from The Wrightslaw Way: (click for entire article)

The answer to your question about an IEP v. a 504 Plan depends on which law governs your child’s eligibility.

If the school team determined that your child is eligible for special education and related services under the IDEA, the school must develop an IEP that meets her unique needs and provides educational benefit.

If the school determined that your daughter has a disability but doesn’t “need” special education and related services, she may be eligible for a 504 Plan under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, not an IEP.

    What information, evaluations, etc. did the team use to determine your daughter was eligible for special education?
    Did this data show your daughter’s disability adversely affects her educational performance?

ELDER POETRY INTERLUDE: Touch Me

Excerpt from Time Goes By: (click for entire article)

Summer is late, my heart.
Words plucked out of the air
some forty years ago
when I was wild with love
and torn almost in two
scatter like leaves this night
of whistling wind and rain.
It is my heart that's late,
it is my song that's flown.
Outdoors all afternoon
under a gunmetal sky
staking my garden down,
I kneeled to the crickets trilling
underfoot as if about
to burst from their crusty shells;
and like a child again
marveled to hear so clear
and brave a music pour
from such a small machine.
What makes the engine go?
Desire, desire, desire.
The longing for the dance
stirs in the buried life.
One season only,
            and it's done.
So let the battered old willow
thrash against the windowpanes
and the house timbers creak.
Darling, do you remember
the man you married? Touch me,
remind me who I am.

Medicaid Gets a Rehab

Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal: (click for entire article)

If you're having trouble affording medical care, Medicaid might be an option you haven't considered.

"A lot of people have perceptions about who is eligible and who is not that aren't quite right," says Cindy Mann, director of the federal Center for Medicaid. "It's a much broader program than people think."

Medicaid, the state and federally run health-insurance program for the poor, is getting a rehab under the Affordable Care Act, with some changes phasing in now. For many people who qualify that means free health care.

In The First Four Months Of 2012, More Than 416,000 People with Medicare Saved an Average of $724 on Prescription Drugs and 12.1 Million Used a Free Preventive Service

Excerpt from ENews Park Forest: (click for entire article)

Under the new health care law – the Affordable Care Act --  seniors and people with disabilities in Medicare have saved a total of $3.5 billion on prescription drugs in the Medicare drug benefit coverage gap or “donut hole” from the enactment of the law in March 2010 through April of 2012.  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released data today showing that, in the first four months of 2012 alone, more than 416,000 people saved an average of $724 on the prescription drugs they purchased after they hit the prescription drug coverage gap or “donut hole,” for a total of $301.5 million in savings.  These savings build on the law’s success in 2010 and 2011, when more than 5.1 million people with Medicare saved over $3.2 billion on prescription drugs.

In addition, CMS announced that this year, from January through April, 12.1 million people in traditional Medicare received at least one preventive service at no cost to them – including over 856,000 who have taken advantage of the Annual Wellness Visit provided in the Affordable Care Act.  In 2011, over 26 million people in traditional Medicare received one or more preventive benefits free of charge.

“Thanks to the health care law, millions of people with Medicare have paid less for health care and prescription drugs,” said CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.  “The law is helping people with Medicare lower their medical costs, and giving them more resources to stay healthy.”

National Disability Rights Group: Study Finds Medical System Violates Civil Rights of Disabled People

Excerpt from Not Dead Yet: (click for entire article)

I apologize for being a little late getting this news out from the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN).  There are two important issues affecting people with disabilities.  One, as the headline of the press release states, is the violation of people's basic rights by surgical and other modifications on people's bodies without any judicial review.  Second, and not mentioned in the title, are the alarming number of cases in which disabled people have been denied even basic medical treatment and care while ill - with the intent of causing their deaths.  (look for highlighted quotes from NDRN ex. dir. Curt Decker below)  More after the end of the press release.

Fake doctors ran Medicaid schemes

Excerpt from Watchdog Bytes: (click for entire article)

Medicaid scam of the day: Forget about licenses.

You might call it unnecessary regulation, but Medicaid insists that people providing health-care services actually be qualified.

Fake doctors have treated patients, with Medicaid footing the bill, though.

You might even want to check credentials on the school nurse.

Physical Activity And Lower Odds of Psychiatric Problems in Children

Excerpt from Your Therapy Source: (click for entire article)

The Journal of Pediatrics published research that measured the physical activity of 199 eight year old children. Wrist accelerometers were worn to determine if there was an association between physical activity and parent/teacher rated psychiatric problems in the eight year olds. The results indicated that "higher overall physical activity and more time spent in more intense physical activity were associated with lower odds for psychiatric problems in emotional, social, and behavioral domains".

Need ideas to get children more active? Check out 50 Sensory Motor Activities for Kids, Dancing with the Owls, Mini Movement Breaks and Locomotor Games.

WSJ: New Ex-Patriot Tax on Facebook Co-Founder 'Isn't Worthy of America'

Excerpt from TaxProf Blog: (click for entire article)

Wall Street Journal editoiral:  The Saverin Lesson : A Punitive Exit Tax on the Facebook Expat Isn't Worthy of America:

    Facebook on Thursday priced the IPO it expects to launch Friday at $38 a share, valuing the social media company at $104 billion. But so much for that welcome sign of confidence in American entrepreneurship and capital markets. This being the age of envy, the bigger story in some circles seems to be the decision by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin to renounce his U.S. citizenship in favor of Singapore.

    Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey, a pair of envy specialists, pounced on the news by announcing Thursday that they will introduce a plan to tax capital gains at 30% for any wealthy Americans who try to escape from U.S. shores. No doubt they hope to score political points by punishing the fleeing rich who will strike most Americans as unpatriotic, but the Senators are doing far more harm than Mr. Saverin is to the U.S. and its global reputation.