Action Alerts

Ongoing: None.

Major Events Last Week

Health Care Reform

President Obama signed an Executive Order creating a White House Office of Health Reform. The Office will be headed by Nancy Ann DeParle, former Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) during the Clinton Administration. Ms. DeParle will be responsible for coordinating health reform policy within the White House, federal agencies, and working with Congress to secure passage of health reform legislation. The Executive Order also directs the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a Health Reform Office within HHS. See:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Executive-Order-Establishing-The-White-House-Office-Of-Health-Reform

White House Health Care Forum

White House Health Care Czar Nancy Ann DeParle hosted a forum on health care where approximately thirty invitees representing segments of the health care community (doctors, nurses, providers, insurers, etc.) discussed options and strategies to enact health care reform in this Congress. The Disability Policy Collaboration (DPC) of The Arc and UCP was an active participant in this meeting, stressing the need for the Administration to include long term services and supports reform as part of the health care reform initiative. The DPC also brought attention to federal funding for outmoded and ineffectual large segregated settings instead of home and community based settings. Drag time cursor to the one hour and twelve minute mark (1:12) at:
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/includes/templates/library/flash_popup.php?pID=285170-1&clipStart=&clipStop=

Economic Stimulus

DPC staff participated in a White House meeting related to the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Over a dozen federal departments provided updates on their schedule and timing to get ARRA funding out to states and to prepare guidance and application information for several competitive grants to be released soon. All speakers stressed the need for interested organizations and citizens to keep tabs on daily updates to the federal government's website for new information on ARRA funding availability. See: www.recovery.gov

Social Security

The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), Michael J. Astrue, has written to several of the Nation's governors regarding the potential impact that furloughs, hiring freezes, and layoffs of state employees will have on people with disabilities filing applications for Social Security disability benefits. The federal government fully reimburses the states for their costs of running the disability determination services (DDS), where state employees evaluate initial claims for disability benefits. SSA's Inspector General has indicated that the furloughs could have a substantial effect on processing claims. Not only will claimants have to wait longer for decisions, but those who are found eligible will experience delay in receiving the benefits they need for daily expenses. In California alone, the Inspector General's report predicts a delay in $648,000 in benefits to new beneficiaries These delays are in addition to the long-standing backlog in disability decisions, particularly at the hearing level. The IG report can be found at:
http://www.ssa.gov/oig/ADOBEPDF/A-01-09-29137.pdf

Family Support

Members of the DPC and other disability groups met with several Senators' staff to discuss the need to create technical changes to the National Family Caregiver Support Program to better serve the population of aging caregivers and adults with disabilities. With the correction, grants to States with State plans would have the capacity to meet the needs of this specific demographic. It is estimated that nearly 700,000 adults with disabilities are cared for in households with one or more caregivers over the age of 65, a growing population that remains largely invisible.

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Major Events Ahead

U.S. Congress

The Congress has reached the half way point in its two week spring recess. It will return in session on April 20.

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Announcements

Disability Policy Seminar

The 2009 Seminar is only two weeks away. Over 400 participants from more the 35 states, Canada, Australia and China have registered. For a state by state list of the registrants from your state, see:
http://www.aucd.org/docs/policy/disability_policy_seminar_2009/registration_by_state.pdf
Register online at:
https://aaiddonline.aaidd.org/events/EV04EventDetail.aspx?eventID=1057

Housing Report

Today the Technical Assistance Collaborative and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force issued Priced Out in 2008, a study which documents the severe housing affordability crisis facing over 4 million people with disabilities who rely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to live. The report compares monthly SSI payments to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Fair Market Rents in all metropolitan statistical areas across the country. The national average rent for a one-bedroom unit was $749 per month (112.1% of monthly SSI payments) and the studio/efficiency unit rent was $663 per month (99.3% of monthly SSI income). The report can be accessed at:
http://www.tacinc.org/pubs/pricedout/2008.html

Obama Administration Response to Employment and Health Care Question

During one of President Obama's recent online town hall meetings, many citizens submitted questions through its "Open for Questions" tool. Watch the question submitted regarding employment and health care issues for people with disabilities, and the video answer from Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy. See:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/03/Open-for-Questions-Follow-up-Kareem-Dale/

Home and Community Based Services Quality Indicators Webinar

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has announced a one-hour Web-based seminar to provide information about a set of quality indicators on home and community-based services (HCBS) that AHRQ is developing in response to a Congressional mandate. The Webinar will provide an overview of why and how the HCBS performance measures are being developed, who is involved in the effort, what has been accomplished to date, and what future steps are planned. The presentation is geared toward state Medicaid program directors, state directors of disability and aging services, representatives from federal agencies and programs related to home and community-based services, organizations that advocate for the HCBS population, and other potential users of the HCBS performance measures. The webinar, entitled "Overview: The Development of Quality Indicators for the Home and Community Based Population" will be held on Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time. For more information on attending the Webinar, send an email to: HCBS-QI@battelle.org

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Please note that you can view previous issues of the Capitol Insider, at UCP.org anytime by choosing "Capitol Insider" under "Public Policy."

Read previous Capitol Insider issues now.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at acosta@thedpc.org.

Sincerely,

Annie Acosta
Director of Communications and Grassroots
Disability Policy Collaboration