Volume 14, Issue 40
October 13, 2009
Action Alerts
Ongoing:
Action Alerts are messages for you to send to elected officials and need your immediate response. Click on the link(s) above to take action on current DPC action alerts.
Major Events Last Week
Health Care Reform
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation announced that comprehensive health reform legislation recently debated in the Senate Finance Committee (America's Healthy Future Act of 2009, as amended) would cost $829 billion over ten years. CBO estimated that the bill would lower the deficit by $81 billion over the next ten years. In addition, 94% of Americans would be insured according to the CBO estimate. These estimates greatly increase the prospects for health care reform this year.
The following provisions in the Senate Finance bill are of particular interest to persons with disabilities:
- Addition of the Community First Choice Option (CFC) to the package. The CFC Option would allow states to provide individuals with disabilities who are eligible for Medicaid institutional settings with a broad array of community-based services and supports. Services under this option would include supports to assist individuals with activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), and health-related tasks through hands-on assistance, supervision, or cueing. States choosing to use the CFC Option would enjoy a 6 percent increase in the federal Medicaid match rate. The Option would sunset after 5 years. This provision was added by Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) as part of his modifications to the Chairman's Mark. Senator Schumer (D-NY) had submitted the provision as a proposed amendment, but did not need to offer it during the Committee mark-up since it was included in the Chairman's modified Mark. Advocates believe that the CFC Option would support the Olmstead decision and help address state waiting lists by giving people the choice to leave facilities and institutions for their own homes and communities with appropriate, cost effective services and supports.
- An elimination of Medicare Part D co-pays for dual eligibles (those who receive both Medicare and Medicaid benefits) residing in home and community based settings and covered under Sec. 1115 and 1915 waiver programs. This amendment was offered by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT), Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) continued work to merge bills produced by the Senate Finance and HELP Committees in preparation for full Senate consideration. CBO will do a comprehensive cost estimate on the merged bill before the floor debate. Majority Leader Red announced that he would like to begin floor debate during the week of October 19th. However several moderate Democrats have requested a 72 hour period between the completion of the CBO estimate and the beginning of full Senate consideration.
In the House of Representatives, Republican members met with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, but no agreement on any issues was reached.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sent three versions of the House health care reform bill to CBO for cost estimates. The versions each had a version of the public option. Thirty Democratic senators sent a letter to Majority Leader Reid urging that the final Senate bill include a public option in the new Health Insurance Exchange.
Hate Crimes/Victimization
On October 8, hate crimes legislation passed the House. The bill now goes to the Senate. The hate crimes legislation would prohibit crimes "based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person." The hate crimes legislation would give the federal government authority to prosecute violent hate crimes based on disability when local authorities failed to act. It would also allocate $5 million a year to the Justice Department to provide assistance to local communities in investigating hate crimes. The legislation is attached to the Defense Authorization Bill which funds operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other things. The Senate is expected to pass the bill and the President is expected to sign it.
Major Events Ahead
Health Care Reform
Today, the Senate Finance Committee will vote on the America's Healthy Future Act of 2009.
Announcements
H1N1 Flu
TThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has compiled a state-specific list of state H1N1 hotlines and websites. These hotlines and websites are good sources of information on vaccine dissemination within states. See:
http://www.flu.gov/
Victimization Data
The U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics recently relased a report based on data from the 2007 National Crime Victimization Survey. The report found that people with disabilities experienced violent crime at a rate one and one-half times greater than people without disabilities. For females with disabilities, the rate was twice as high as women without disabilities. People with intellectual disabilities were most at risk. One in five people with disabilities who experienced violent crimes felt that they had become victims because of their disability. The report can be found at:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/capd07.htm
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
