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

Low Obamacare Premiums to Soften Blow for Those Losing Medicaid

Ganny Belloni
March 16, 2023, 5:44 PM

CMS will take active role during Medicaid eligibility checks

All states required to take 14 months to complete checks

One-third of the millions of individuals expected to lose Medicaid coverage as eligibility checks resume this spring will qualify for Affordable Care Act coverage with low or no premiums, a top Medicaid official said.

The Department of Health and Human Services believes the majority of those whose Medicaid eligibility will be redetermined will remain eligible, and the government is actively collaborating with states to make sure beneficiaries don’t lose coverage because of administrative issues, Daniel Tsai, director of the federal Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, said Thursday in an interview with reporters

see full article at :

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/low-obamacare-premiums-to-soften-blow-for-those-losing-medicaid

#AffordableCareAct #DepartmentofHealthandHumanServices #CenterforMedicaidandCHIPServices #DanielTsai #Medicaid #CMS

We have added a new Special Education Resource: Surviving Special Education

Surviving Special Education is a blog and podcast series created by a special needs father turned special education attorney. His goal is to help as many children and families survive and thrive in special education as possible through his first had and professional experience with the system. 

 

Link to homepage where you can read and find the podcasts: http://survivingspecialeducation.com/ 

Evers says DOJ concerns over vouchers and special needs students may require law change

Excerpt from: The Republic (click for full article)

 

State superintendent Tony Evers says it may take changes in Wisconsin law in order to address concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice over the state's private school voucher program.

Evers was asked Monday about the letter sent last month in response to a complaint filed alleging discrimination of special needs students in Milwaukee's voucher program.

The letter from DOJ's Civil Rights Division says that the Department of Public Instruction which Evers heads must take a number of steps to better monitor the program and ensure discrimination is not taking place.

After Flight Diverted, Teen With Special Needs Goes Missing

Excerpt from: Disability Scoop (click for full article)

 

While flying from Idaho to Florida, a teen with an Asperger’s-like condition found his plane unexpectedly diverted to an unfamiliar city and wound up wandering the streets all alone.

Joshua Arvin, 15, was on his way home from his boarding school when his flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. instead stopped in Tampa. Rather than follow the rest of the passengers to a bus for the remainder of the journey, the teen attempted to make his own way.

Arvin’s mother, Tracy, frantically called the airline and airport police with no luck tracking down her son. She later learned that the teen tried to charter a bus before taking a cab to a local bus station. He was ultimately found on a downtown street corner after 11 p.m by a good Samaritan who called police.

The airline — US Airways — says it does not accept responsibility for unaccompanied minors on connecting flights, reports WTSP, the Tampa CBS affiliate.

Bubble-Pop!

Excerpt from: Special Needs Apps (click for full article)

 

Bubble-Pop! provides a fun way for children with or without special needs to learn common objects and the categories to which they belong. Pop bubbles to collect items of a chosen category, and be rewarded with auditory and visual reinforcement after each correct answer. Bubble-Pop! is highly configurable in terms of difficulty, and also provides review at the end of each level to reinforce what was learned.

Window On Washington: New Normal Attends Two Major Disability Conferences

Excerpt from: The Jewish Week (click for full article)

 

This week I attended two major conferences for lawyers whose main function is to help people with disabilities. Frankly, it would be wonderful if these lawyers weren't needed. Imagine a society that valued people with disabilities enough that our constitutional rights would be automatically protected.

Imagine if needed educational and healthcare services were accessible without a lawyer! But, as this is only a dream at this point, these lawyers play a vital role for many people with disabilities and their families. Pity the millions of poor people (literally) who can't afford these services, as they can, again literally, save life and independence for the people who benefit from them.

The first conference was sponsored by the "Special Needs Alliance (SNA)," a national, not-for-profit organization of attorneys dedicated to the practice of disability and public benefits law. Mostly, these lawyers help with such functions as wills, estate planning and guardianship issues as well as gaining government services and benefits that can be complicated and challenging to access.

A Special Hockey Weekend

Excerpt from: Special Needs Truth (click for full article)

 

 

7 Ways to Bring Out the Best in Special-Needs Students

Excerpt from: Education Week Teacher (click for full article)

 

Recently, a former music teacher told me about a 1st grade student with Asperger's syndrome who, on their first encounter, announced in no uncertain terms: "I hate music!" Over the next two years, the student used abusive language, had meltdowns, and was physically aggressive toward his peers. Finally, the teacher scheduled some individual time with him and discovered that he believed he was terrible at music and couldn't sing. She let him play some of the instruments in her room and then showed him the music composition software program GarageBand on her Mac. It turned out that he was fascinated with computers and quickly figured out how to compose a song.

The next week, the teacher shared his song with the class and from that time on things began to change. He still struggled with his behavior, but over the next two years, she explained, "he played instruments in our concerts, joined the choir, had several solos, was in the musical. ... [He] gave his heart and soul to music and continued to compose and mix music at home. He told his mother that whenever he was having a bad day, he would 'go into his music' and there he would find peace and calm." This story illustrates how important it is to find out as much as possible about the strengths and abilities of students with special needs.

How Much Should I Put Into My Child’s Special Needs Trust?

Excerpt from: NAELA News (click for full article)

 

An issue families often find challenging is how to split their estate among their children when one child is disabled and other children are not. This subject alone could take an entire book. Parents often struggle with their attempts to be fair to all of their children. The fact is, children are not created equal, whether they are disabled are not. In many cases, it might be more prudent, at least initially, to dedicate more of the estate to the disabled child’s special needs trust than to the nondisabled child’s share. The children who are not disabled presumably would have more earning capacity than their disabled sibling, especially if the parents contributed to their education. This balancing act is nothing new to parents of disabled children. In many instances it is very difficult to accommodate all children fully, especially when the family has limited resources. Parents must look at the equities and make a pragmatic decision, which is easier said than done. Parents must try to avoid making decisions based on guilt. A common approach is to purchase life insurance to make up the difference or fill in the gaps, which can be a short-term or a long-term solution, depending on the situation and the type of insurance purchased, whether it be “perm,” or “term.”

CA Court Requires Disclosure of SpEd Attorney Invoices

Excerpt from: Making Special Education Actually Work (click for full article)

 

In November 2012, a decision was issued by a California appellate court that requires disclosure of a public agency’s attorney fees and costs when those records are requested pursuant to a written California Public Records Act (“CPRA”) request, even while litigation is pending in which the public agency is one of the parties. The County of Los Angeles brought the matter up on appeal after it lost on this issue in a lower court, only to lose on the issue again. This can be good news for families and their attorneys who find themselves engaged in litigation on behalf of their special education students in California.

Here’s the scenario in a nutshell: CPRA requests can be submitted for public information any old time a citizen wants and a public agency can only refuse to disclose requested documents for a very limited number of reasons. A document may not be provided in response to a PRA request if it contains information that is subject to attorney-client privilege or is otherwise attorney work product. Documents specifically prepared for the pending litigation are excluded, presumably because they are covered under the attorney work product exclusion.

The problem, here, was that LA County evidently asserted the position that any documents relating to the litigation were excluded from disclosure, such as their legal expenses for the pending litigation, which the Courts failed to support. Because the public’s right to know what the government is doing with the tax dollars we give it carries so much weight, CRPA is to be interpreted broadly and its exclusions are to be interpreted narrowly. In other words, the law is more in favor of disclosure than not.

"Disability" vs "Special Needs"

Excerpt from: The Jewish Week (click for full article)

 

As a person who has met life with a significant level of cerebral palsy, and as a lover of words and their nuances, I have, throughout my life, tracked the nomenclature that has been applied to those of us who don’t quite fit into established physical, intellectual, communication, sensory, psychological or social "norms."

Admittedly, we haven’t yet come up with a word to identify our population that pleases nearly everyone. We are a diverse group. That said, the term "disability" is the term that was thoughtfully chosen by people with the full spectrum of obvious or hidden disabilities to be used in civil rights and other legislation, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).

However, by not embracing the term "disability," and by embracing the phrase “special needs”, we inadvertently legitimize and allow for the expansion of the lingering stigma around having or being perceived as having a disability. If we’re embarrassed by having a disability, why should others have high regard for us? Furthermore, by opting to refer to ourselves, our children, and our program participants as "special needs populations," we become known specifically for our needs and the specialness of our needs. Once again, our neediness, in particular, is showcased and we are identified solely by our imagined limitless needs. This phenomenon feeds right back into the common assumption that people with disabilities are high maintenance. In fact, some people with disabilities or people considered to have disabilities may have very few or no needs for accommodation.