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

How's Your News?

Excerpt from: The Huffington Post (click for full article)

 

How's Your News? is a concept created by director Arthur Bradford, who was working with a group of adults with disabilities at a summer camp in Massachusetts and decided, as part of a development project, to give them cameras and microphones and have them hit the street to interview people. The original clips and a few subsequent pieces were so compelling that they caught the attention of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park. Intrigued by the potential of the concept, the two funded a documentary of How's Your News? and then helped promote a six part series broadcast by MTV. Those episodes were the story of a cross-country bus trip with the reportorial crew that took them to events like Austin's South By Southwest music festival where their How's Your News? band performed before a raucous crowd at the famed Stubb's Barbecue outdoors venue.

The Election 2012 version of How's Your News? is a documentary about the three reporters attending to two presidential nominating conventions. Nobody seems more pleased by being in the midst of all the Americana than Jeremy Vest. His unbridled enthusiasm and unabashed personality lead to many of the film's most charming and entertaining scenes. One of the characteristics of his Williams' Syndrome, which is often difficult to view as a handicap of any kind when watching Vest, is an unrelenting optimism and cheeriness that might not serve a more traditional form of journalism. It is hard not to smile when watching Vest, standing alone in a balcony above CNN's Wolf Blitzer, simply calling out to attract the anchorman's attention. Jeremy only wants recognition of his presence; information isn't required from Blitzer.

Carrie Fisher honored for sharing struggles with bipolar disorder

Excerpt from: Examiner (click for full article)

 

Former "Star Wars" actress Carrie Fisher was honored for her candor in dealing with her bipolar disorder, as well as for how she has raised awareness about the condition.

On Friday evening, Fisher received the Utah Film Center's Kim Peek Award for Disability in Media in Salt Lake City.

Film founder Geralyn Dreyfous praised Fisher for sharing her bipolar disorder "with a mix of humor, defiance and grace," reports the Deseret News.

According to the 56-year-old actress, people face a choice of being a victim of bipolar disorder or "taking it on and flying in the face of it."

Fisher publicly announced her struggle with bipolar disorder in 2000.

Woman caught texting while driving disabled clients

Excerpt from: News 8 (click for full article)

 

A woman who drives a van for people with developmental disabilities was caught on camera texting while behind the wheel.

Nicole Pressley says she's the one who shot the video of the woman texting while driving, when she was employed at RHD, a non-profit aimed at helping those with developmental disabilities.

Pressley showed News 8 the company handbook which clearly states an employee can be terminated for distracted driving. She says five employees and four clients were in the Ford passenger van when the incident happened three weeks ago.

Pressley was terminated a few days ago for poor conduct. News 8 went to RHD's Connecticut office, but were told to speak with corporate based in Philadelphia.

Pressley says complaints to supervisors went unanswered, so she came to us to ensure former clients will remain safe.

IRS Announces Qualified Disaster Treatment of Payments to Victims of Hurricane Sandy

Excerpt from: IRS.gov (click for more information)

 

The Internal Revenue Service today alerted employers and other taxpayers that because Hurricane Sandy is designated as a qualified disaster for federal tax purposes, qualified disaster relief payments made to individuals by their employer or any person can be excluded from those individuals’ taxable income.

Qualified disaster relief payments include amounts to cover necessary personal, family, living or funeral expenses that were not covered by insurance. They also include expenses to repair or rehabilitate personal residences or repair or replace the contents to the extent that they were not covered by insurance. Again, these payments would not be included in the individual recipient’s gross income.

The IRS also announced that the designation of Hurricane Sandy as a qualified disaster means that employer-sponsored private foundations may provide disaster relief to employee-victims in areas affected by the hurricane without affecting their tax-exempt status. Like all charitable organizations, employer-sponsored private foundations should follow the guidance in Publication 3833, Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance Through Charitable Organizations, in providing assistance to employees or their family members affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Frederick County teen wins regional science competition

Excerpt from: Washington Post (click for article)

Patti's comment: What an Inspiring story and inspirational young man!!

 

Sam Pritt is only 17 but already has an impressive ability to see through chaos — and disaster relief teams responding to superstorm Sandy have noticed.

Pritt has developed software that can analyze a photograph of a landscape and determine where the picture was taken to within 1,000 feet of the site. The achievement won the Frederick County teenager the top prize Saturday in regional rounds of a prestigious high school science competition.

His winning research project was a computer algorithm that involved geolocation, a project he started a year and a half ago in Walkersville, where he is a home-schooled senior.

As Pritt describes it, “The horizon is like a thumbprint. It’s distinctive enough to pinpoint the location” anywhere in the world.

Pritt beat hundreds of other teenagers to earn the $3,000 top prize at the Siemens Competition regional qualifier at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Pritt now will compete for a $100,000 scholarship prize at the national finals of the competition, to be held in Washington in December.

Halloween and the Mask of Disability

Excerpt from: disabilityisnatural.com (click for full article)

 

The end of October brings us to the one day in the year when kids of all ages (and adults who want to be kids again) can be someone else--simply by donning a mask, wearing a costume, or painting one's face. It's a fun time for all!

It's also a time to reflect. To one degree or another, we all wear masks--many different masks--day in and day out. In the mornings, we put on the masks that turn us into employees, teachers, students, or a variety of other roles. Later in the day, we take those off and put on other masks: parents, wives, husbands, lovers, baseball players, scrapbookers, and more. In between are the masks we wear as advocates, volunteers, and a wide variety of other roles. It's a fluid, sometimes unconscious, process.

 But what about people with disabilities? For too many, a disability diagnosis creates a permanent (and negative) mask in the eyes of society.

WSJ: Death Tax Resurrection

Excerpt from: TaxProf Blog (click for full post)

 

It's worse than that because the nonpartisan Tax Foundation calculates that the death tax is a long-term revenue loser. "Tax revenue is likely to increase" upon repeal of the tax, the Foundation finds. At least three other recent studies agree. How is this possible?

First, repeal or even a substantial reduction would be coupled with elimination of a provision called the "step-up basis at death" for calculating capital gains. ... There would be no grave-robber tax imposed at death, but all gains from a business or stocks or real estate would get taxed at the capital-gains rate (now 15%) when eventually sold by the heirs.

Abolishing the estate tax would also mean higher income-tax revenues. Under current law, billionaires like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates escape the tax by diverting their wealth into charitable foundations. But when income-generating assets are sheltered in this way, these foundations with a few exceptions don't pay tax on the future income from dividends, capital gains or interest. Eliminate the death tax and fewer people will shelter their money in foundations, meaning the money will continue to earn taxable income.

Most important, because the estate tax is a penalty on saving and capital investment, the economy grows more slowly over time. This is why so many industrialized nations, including Canada and Russia, have thrown out this tax as more trouble than it is worth....

The strongest case against the death tax is moral. ... Mr. Obama is so obsessed with redistributing income that he thinks it is unfair to leave behind a family business for the kids. What is truly unfair is when a family-owned enterprise has to be sold at auction to pay the death tax to the IRS.

Mitt Romney was right when he told a gathering in Van Meter, Iowa earlier this month that "we ought to kill the death tax. You paid for that farm once. You shouldn't have to pay for it again."

Advocacy Needed on Blue Cross Legislation

AREA AGENCIES ON AGING ASSOCIATION OF MICHIGAN

ADVOCACY ALERT

October 26, 2012

 

 

	IF BLUE CROSS BILLS ENACTED - SENIORS AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES LOSE AFFORDABLE MEDIGAP POLICIES AND GO ON MEDICAID

 

 

 

 

BACKGROUND: 

In October, the Michigan Senate passed Senate Bills 1293 and 1294, which would change Blue Cross Blue Shield from a state-chartered charitable nonprofit to a nonprofit mutual insurance company.  The rationale is that because of new protections in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), we no longer need Blue Cross to serve as the insurer of last resort.  This is not entirely true.  NONE of the new protections in the Affordable Care Act apply to Medicare Supplemental policies (also known as “Medigap”) – insurance companies will still be able to reject people with health conditions, or impose pre-existing condition exclusions.  This is why we need Blue Cross to remain the insurer of last resort for Medicare Supplemental insurance. 

 

Aging and disability advocates are focused on three negative impacts of the bills.

 

The first is the elimination of a special fund that pays for respite and day care services through the aging network.  This fund, called the “Blue Cross Escheats Fund,” comes from the Blues’ uncashed checks which revert to the state treasury.  State laws passed in 1990 (Public Acts 171 & 172) earmark those funds for caregiver support services to keep seniors in their own homes and out of institutions.  In FY 2013, this fund will get over $5.5 million.  An amendment was added to the Senate-passed bills to preserve escheats funding.

 

The second is the impact on the most accessible and affordable Medicare Supplemental (Medigap) policies offered in Michigan – Blue Cross “Legacy” policies.  No other Medigap policies or Medicare Advantage plans are as good as Blue Cross Legacy.  Passage of SBs 1293 and 1294 would allow Blue Cross to eliminate these policies in 2016, after a four-year rate freeze expires.  However, the bills allow Blue Cross – for the first time - to immediately start rejecting some applicants with pre-existing conditions. 

 

The Blues Legacy policies are community-rated, do not have pre-existing condition exclusions, have 37% lower rates because they are subsidized, and any premium increases are subject to state approval can be challenged by the Attorney General. No other Medigap policy meets this gold standard.  While insurance companies can reject applicants after an initial 6-month protection period expires, Blue Cross must accept all applicants, regardless of health status. 

 

Medicare Advantage plans are also available to Medicare beneficiaries as an option, but Advantage plans have a major drawback: while premiums can be lower for Advantage, seniors who need health care face sizable deductibles and copays that don’t exist with Legacy policies.   

Thirdly, the elimination of Blue Cross Legacy Medigap has special significance for younger people who are on Medicare because of serious disabilities.  When seniors first become eligible for Medicare, they have a six-month protection period in which all insurance companies must sell them a Medigap policy.  Federal law requires this.  However, federal law does not offer this same protection to younger people with disabilities when they become eligible for Medicare.  That means that people with disabilities on Medicare are especially vulnerable, and need access to the community-rated and affordable Medigap Legacy policies offered only by

Blue Cross.  As one example – younger people eligible for Medicare because of End-Stage Renal Disease can only access coverage through Blue Cross.

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Contact members of the House Insurance Committee and request an amendment to the Blue Cross bills that would maintain current protections for Blue Cross Medicare Supplemental (Medigap) policies.

 

House Insurance Committee

Chair: Pete Lund (R-Shelby Twp)      [email protected]                              (888) 642-4737

Deb Shaughnessy (R-Charlotte)        [email protected]                (855) 328-6671

Paul Opsommer (R-DeWitt)              [email protected]                   (877) 859-8086

Cindy Denby (R-Fowlerville)               [email protected]              (866) 828-4863

Ben Glardon (R-Owosso)                   [email protected]                          (877) 558-5426

Joel Johnson (R-Clare)                       [email protected]              (855) 563-5597

Andrea Lafontaine (R-Richmond)       [email protected]                (866) 347-8032

Lisa Lyons (R-Alto)                             [email protected]                              (855) 596-6786

Margaret O’Brien (R-Portage)            [email protected]                  (877) 347-8061

Ken Yonker (R-Caledonia)                  [email protected]                           (888) 347-8072

Roy Schmidt (R-Grand Rapids)         [email protected]                          (877) 976-4769

Andrew Kandrevas (D-Southgate)     [email protected]              (866) 737-1313

Kate Segal (D-Battle Creek)               [email protected]                            (888) 347-8062

Marcia Hovey-Wright (D-Muskegon)  [email protected]           (877) 411-3684

Lisa Howze (D-Detroit)                       [email protected]                            (855) 547-2402

Doug Geiss (D-Taylor)                       [email protected]                      (888) 737-4347

 

 

Here are some talking points:

 

• The protections in the Affordable Care Act do not apply to Medigap policies – insurance companies can still turn away bad risks and impose pre-existing conditions exclusions.  We need Blue Cross as the insurer of last resort for Medicare Supplemental insurance. 

 

• Blue Cross Legacy Medigap policies are the most accessible and affordable policies in the state and must be maintained by keeping current statutory protections in place.  If Legacy policies are discontinued, some beneficiaries will be forced to drop coverage altogether, relying on bare Medicare with its high out-of-pocket costs.

 

• Younger people with disabilities going on Medicare have no legal protections in purchasing Medigap and rely on Blue Cross Legacy policies to supplement Medicare.

 

Exercise may protect the aging brain, a study shows

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

 

THE QUESTION The brain sometimes shrinks as people age, altering their memory and thinking abilities. Might physical or mental activities help prevent this shrinkage?

THIS STUDY analyzed data on 691 adults in their early 70s, including information on their exercise habits and participation in socially oriented or intellectually challenging activities. MRI brain scans showed less shrinkage in the brains among those who reported the most physical activity, compared with those who were the least physically active. Atrophy, or brain shrinkage, was greatest among physically inactive men. Participating in mentally and socially stimulating activities had no effect on brain shrinkage.

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED? Older adults. Forgetfulness is a normal part of aging, but serious memory loss and cognitive problems that affect day-to-day life are thought to be related more to brain atrophy.

Former resident earns state excellence award

Excerpt from: The Mining Journal (click for full article)

 

Former Marquette County resident Paul Palmer was presented with the Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards' Partners in Excellence Award at the association's fall conference recently in Traverse City.

The Partners in Excellence recognizes individuals who have advanced the cause of community-based mental health services and worked to reduce and eliminate stigma in the public's perception of mental health and developmental disability needs.

For decades Palmer has committed himself as an advocate and an individual dedicated to advancing the field of behavioral health and developmental disabilities services, according to information provided by the association. He was the acting chairman for the Michigan Protection and Advocacy for Developmental Disabilities from 1990-1992. He later apply his advocacy efforts to the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Michigan and the Marquette County Transit Authority, to ensure that the rights of full citizenship were provided for persons with disability in all facets of life, including public transportation.