1) What’s Happening in the Nation’s Capital?
Healthcare Reform Update
Al Franken Seated as Second Senator from Minnesota
2) National News
Advocates! Comment to APTA on Disability Issues by July 15
Current Voting Issues, Part III
Markey Introduces the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
3) State News
Montanans to Baucus: Include Long-term Care in Healthcare Reform: It’s Key!
Two Boston Flagship Hospitals to Upgrade Accessibility; Millions Pledged for Improvements
4) Announcements and Additional Resources
2009 Annual Conference Photos Now Available!
American Sign Language Video Podcast from the Disability Law Lowdown
National Council on Disability to Hear Presentations from Regional Leaders on Transition for Youth with Disabilities
Healthcare Reform Update
Over the last two weeks, a lot of activity has happened in Congress around the healthcare reform legislation in both chambers. On Friday, June 19th, the House of Representatives released their 850-page “Tri-Committee” Discussion Draft of health reform legislation. The three committees that put the draft together included the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the House Education and Labor Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. This bill contains provisions to create a health insurance exchange, which includes a public or government insurance option. The House plan works to expand coverage to all Americans, but fails to address most of the key reforms that NCIL has been advocating for all year. For example, the bill contains no language to end the institutional bias in Medicaid, which is found in the Community Choice Act. The bill also offers no plans for a public long-term care insurance option, as found in the CLASS Act. A third aspect of the bill that was missing was language that would end the two-year wait for Medicare. While the bill does work to expand coverage of Medicaid and offer financial subsidies to make private (and maybe public) insurance options affordable, many people with disabilities would not be covered by these plans and would still wait to get the health insurance they are entitled to. Finally, the bill is missing language to eliminate physical, programmatic and attitudinal barriers that people with disabilities face when trying to access medical and dental care.
One aspect of the bill that NCIL supports is the prohibition of health insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Additionally, any plans that are offered in the exchange must offer mental health and substance use disorders treatment as a basic benefit. The Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcomittee on Health, the Education and Labor and the Ways and Means Committee held hearings on the draft of the bill June 23-24. The Committees continue to meet on the proposal, but no public mark-up sessions have been announced to this point.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a continuing Executive Session on June 22-24 to work on marking up the HELP version of the Senate bill for healthcare reform. Following those sessions, the HELP Committee convened a hearing on June 25 to debate the long-term care provisions of their bill, including the CLASS Act, However, without a complete cost-estimate of the bill at the time, the committee postponed the hearing until after the 4th of July recess. That session will convene today, July 7th, and NCIL will report on the mark-up of the CLASS Act.
The Senate Finance Committee has also been hard at work, but behind closed doors. After the Congressional Budget Office came out with an estimate $1.6 Trillion over 10 years for the Senate Finance version of the healthcare reform legislation, the committee got to work to trim down the cost to under one trillion dollars over 10 years. NCIL will keep members informed as details are released, and will continue to advocate for the inclusion of meaningful long-term care reform.
There is much anticipation for what the next five weeks will bring. The Senate had hoped to have passed a bill by the month-long recess in August, but that seems less likely. There is still the expectation to have a bill passed in both Houses and signed by the President this fall.
Al Franken Seated as Second Senator from Minnesota
After eight months, Minnesota citizens have a second Senator, Democrat Al Franken. He will be sworn in today before settling into his office in Hart 320. Franken's Republican opponent, Norm Coleman, conceded the race to Franken June 30 after the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled 5-0 that a lower court was correct in declaring Franken as the winner.
According to CQPolitics, Franken will be serving on the Judiciary Committee, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the Special Committees on Aging and Indian Affairs. Ron Wyden (D-OR) had filled Franken's slot temporarily on the Judiciary Committee and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
We will provide information on staff hires and contact information for his Washington and state offices as they are made available.
Advocates! Comment to APTA on Disability Issues by July 15
The American Public Transportation Association has published three Recommended Practices for public comment that address important disability transportation topics covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Two of the documents are about how long callers may be placed on hold when calling their paratransit providers, and one is about stop announcements on the bus. The documents can be downloaded, and comments can be made, at: http://www.aptastandards.com/Home/AccessibilityDocuments/tabid/283/Default.aspx.
Please include these points, in your own words:
- When a rider calls to find out where their ride is, the hold time should be at least as short as a reservations call.
- Three to five minute hold times are too long.
- Put your name and organization so APTA will know the disability community will be heard!
If you submit comments, please contact NCIL’s transportation subcommittee chair, Cliff Perez. Cliff can be reached at: cperez@ilchv.org or 518 274-0701. If you are interested in learning more about the transportation subcommittee, or would like to join, contact Cliff.
Current Voting Issues, Part III
Statistics of the Disability Vote in the November 2008 Election
The turnout of people with disabilities was 7 percentage points lower than that of people without disabilities in the November 2008 elections, according to analysis of data from the federal government’s Current Population Survey Voting Supplement for November 2008. The computations were made using six new disability questions introduced on the Current Population Survey in 2008.
Among the voting eligible population (citizens age 18 or older), 57.3% of people with disabilities voted, compared to 64.5% of people without disabilities. Within the disability population, the voting rate was highest among people with hearing impairments (63.1%), and lowest among those who have difficulty going outside alone to shop or visit a doctor’s office (45.7%). For each disability group except those with hearing impairments, the difference in turnout from those without disabilities is strong enough to be outside the survey’s margin of error. A full breakdown of the figures follows.
Voter turnout among voting eligible population: Number who voted (percentage)
Overall: 131,144,000 (63.6%)
People without disabilities: 116,440,000 (64.5%)
People with disabilities: 14,704,000 (57.3%)
By type of disability:
Hearing impairment: 4,327,000 (63.1%)
Visual impairment: 2,201,000 (56.8%)
Mental or cognitive impairment: 3,485,000 (46.1%)
Difficulty walking or climbing stairs: 8,840,000 (56.8%)
Difficulty dressing or bathing: 1,965,000 (46.4%)
Difficulty going outside alone: 3,969,000 45.7%)
The Voting Rights Taskforce is part of the ADA / Civil Rights Subcommittee here at NCIL. Both the Voting Rights Taskforce and the ADA / Civil Rights Subcommittee are always seeking new members to be a part of their efforts to strengthen and support the rights of people with disabilities. If you are interested in joining the Voting Rights Taskforce, please contact Kathy Hoell by e-mail at khoell@cox.net. If you would like to join the broader ADA/Civil Rights Taskforce, please contact Mark Derry at adamarkd@aol.com.
People With Disabilities Voting In Record Numbers
Source: Disability Scoop, by Michelle Diament
More Americans with disabilities voted in the 2008 presidential election than in any before, a new study reveals. In 2008, 14.7 million Americans with disabilities cast their ballots. That’s an increase of 3.8 million over the 2000 election. The numbers come from an analysis of the U.S. Census’ Current Population Survey Voting Supplement conducted by Lisa Schur and Douglas Kruse at Rutgers University.
While people with disabilities continue to vote at a lower rate than the rest of the population, the gap is closing, the research shows. In 2008, 57 percent of people with disabilities voted, while 64 percent of people without disabilities cast ballots. Meanwhile, the number of people with disabilities who voted in 2008 rivals that of other minority groups, with 15.9 million African Americans and 9.7 million Hispanic voters participating.
“While the voting numbers among people with disabilities in 2008 indicates that they continue to face barriers in registration and voting, the fact that 14.7 million people with disabilities voted shows that they play an important role in the political process,” Schur says.
Markey Introduces the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT), of which NCIL is a member, is very pleased that Representative Edward Markey (D-MA) has introduced the “Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009” (H.R. 3101). The bill would modernize the Communications Act by ensuring that new Internet-enabled telephone and television services are accessible to and usable by people with disabilities, and closes existing gaps in federal laws governing telecommunications access. Read the entire press release and sign the petittion!
The bill includes the following specific measures:
Communications Access
- Requires access to phone-type equipment and services used over the Internet.
- Adds improved accountability and enforcement measures for accessibility, including a clearinghouse and reporting obligations by providers and manufacturers.
- Requires telephone products used with the Internet to be hearing aid compatible.
- Allows use of Lifeline and Link-up universal service funds (USF) for broadband services.
- Allocates up to $10 million/year from USF for equipment used by people who are deaf-blind.
- Clarifies the scope of relay services to include calls between and among people with disabilities and requires Internet-based voice communication service providers to contribute to the Interstate Relay Fund.
- Requires the FCC to establish a real-time text digital standard to replace the current TTY-to-TTY analog standard.
Video Programming Access
- Requires closed captioning decoder circuitry in all video programming devices.
- Extends the closed captioning obligations to television-type video programming distributed over the Internet: covers programming that would otherwise be covered by the FCC’s captioning rules, not user-generated content.
- Requires easy access to closed captions via remote control and on-screen menus.
- Requires easy access by blind people to television controls and program selection menus.
- Restores video description rules and requires access to televised emergency programming for people who are blind or have low vision.
Montanans to Baucus: Include Long-term Care in Healthcare Reform: It’s Key!
On July 2nd, Montanans organized to get their U.S. Senator, Max Baucus, to support the Community Choice Act in the healthcare reform legislation. Senator Baucus is the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which has the jurisdiction over Medicaid programs and would be the Committee to include the language of the CCA in healthcare reform. Below is some coverage from the statewide Montana rallies, marches, and visits that occurred around the theme of long-term services and supports being the “key” to healthcare reform. The efforts were organized by Montana's IL community and included partnerships with the aging community and other disability organizations. There was television coverage in 3 of the 7 cities where Senator Baucus has local offices, a 10 minute interview on Montana public radio, and newspaper coverage. Way to go, Montanans!
Sign a petition to let Senator Baucus know the importance of this issue!
Press Release
Missoula, MT— Montanans with disabilities and those who are aging are angry that current federal health care reform efforts exclude the very services and supports that allow them to live in their own homes with the assistance they need. On July 2, they are taking that anger to the streets, with rallies and marches in seven of Montana’s larger cities that will deliver the message that “Long-Term Care is KEY.”
“It’s especially important that Sen. Baucus hears this message,” said Travis Hoffman, Advocacy Coordinator at Summit Independent Living. “Not only is he a “key” figure in health care reform, he represents our interests in Washington, and we want to be sure he knows not to compromise our freedom. We want him to end the bias in Medicaid that currently pays for us to be forced into nursing homes and institutions, but won’t pay less for us to get assistance in our own homes.”
Title II of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act assures older and disabled Americans the right to receive services in “the most integrated setting.” This “civil right” was affirmed by the June 22, 1999 U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C.& E.W. when the court stated that “Unjustified isolation, we hold, is properly regarded as discrimination based on disability,” and is, thus, illegal. Despite the law and the court decision, the Bazelon Center in Washington reported, on June 24, 2009 that NO state in the nation has adequately fulfilled the mandate contained in the ADA and in Olmstead.
“Sen. Baucus has been adamantly opposed to including long-term care in health care reform,” said Bob Liston, Board President at Summit Independent Living Center, and Montana organizer for ADAPT. “This is simply unacceptable because we are talking about people’s lives here. Not only do people die waiting to get out of nursing homes, but when people are forced into nursing homes because of how Medicaid funding is now structured, they lose control over their lives, they lose their privacy, their freedom, they often lose their connections with family and friends, and their health deteriorates, which then costs more.”
More than 80 national aging and disability groups are calling for Sen. Baucus and Congress to include the Community Choice Act (CCA) in the health care reform effort. The CCA would remove the institutional bias from Medicaid, allowing people to choose where they want to receive assistance, whether in their own homes, or a nursing home. While some states, Montana included, provide some home and community-based services under a state-run program and/or by getting federal permission to “waive” the Medicaid rules, these services are considered “optional” and are among the first things cut when states tighten their belts. These services are not guaranteed in the same way that nursing home services are, and do not serve all the people who need them. Advocates are stating the CCA is “Key” to health care reform.
“We can look to health care reform now to insure millions more people, which is clearly a good thing. But if we don’t include long-term services and supports in reform, all these people will still potentially get forced into nursing homes and other institutions as they age or have disabilities,” added Liston. “We need to be included in health reform NOW, not wait for another 40 years.”
Marchers delivered keys to Sen. Baucus’ Montana offices to say “Don’t Throw Away the KEY to Long Term Care: Include the Community Choice Act in Health Care Reform and End the Institutional Bias.”
More coverage:
Two Boston Flagship Hospitals to Upgrade Accessibility; Millions Pledged for Improvements
Source: Boston Globe, by Stephen Smith
In a landmark agreement, two of the nation’s most prominent hospitals are pledging to spend millions of dollars to resolve complaints that ill-suited equipment and sometimes-indifferent medical workers make disabled patients feel unwelcome.
Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard-affiliated teaching facilities, promised to scour every ward for evidence of physical barriers and equipment inaccessible to the disabled. Staff members will undergo training to make sure they understand - and respond to - the needs of patients who have trouble walking, seeing, or hearing.
The hospitals’ financial commitment is substantial: The Brigham expects to spend $12 million on equipment and other capital improvements over the next six years; Mass. General does not have an estimate of how much it will devote, but the hospital’s president said the figure would be in the millions.
The money will be used, in part, to buy exam tables, mammography units, and X-ray machines to better accommodate the disabled. It is also expected that the hospitals will purchase lifts and scales that can weigh patients in wheelchairs.
The accord with disabled patients, expected to be formally announced this morning, marks a signal moment for activists and the medical centers alike. Read More.
2009 Annual Conference Photos Now Available!
We are very happy to announce that pictures from the 2009 Annual Conference are now available on Picassa. If you have a Google account, you can help us caption the pictures! Special thanks to Tom Olin for his amazing photos and dedication to our Movement and its documentation. And, as always, thanks to our members, who made these photographs what they are: the story of our people gathering in our nation’s Capitol to bring about equality and freedom for our people!
View the photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/eleanorcanter/2009Selects#. Please enjoy!
American Sign Language Video Podcast from the Disability Law Lowdown
The National Network of ADA Centers announces new episodes on the Disability Law Lowdown website at ASL.DisabilityLawLowdown.com. The first video podcast series in American Sign Language bring a new level of service to the Deaf community by expanding traditional audio-only podcasts to include video that allows subscribers too see native Deaf speakers signing the show’s content. The podcasts deliver the latest in disability law information via American Sign Language, captioning, voice-over, and transcripts to maximize accessibility. Free subscriptions to the ASL podcasts are available to have shows automatically delivered to MP3 players. The ASL podcasts are also available on the Disability Law Lowdown website, where transcripts of the shows are simultaneously available. For the fastest viewing, go to www.youtube.com/disabilitylawlowdown.
National Council on Disability to Hear Presentations from Regional Leaders on Transition for Youth with Disabilities
The National Council on Disability (NCD), as part of its 2 ½ day quarterly meeting, will hear presentations and discuss transition for youth with disabilities at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center, 30 South 7th Street, Minneapolis, MN, from 10:30 a.m. until noon on Tuesday, July 21, 2009. All times are Central Daylight Savings. This meeting is open to the public.
Transition speakers will address Project C3, which has provided resource mapping internships that have assisted over 150 youth with disabilities across Minnesota gain valuable work experience; E-Connect, a modified mentoring program that utilizes electronic communication and occasional face-to-face meetings to connect high school students with employees of local companies that may have a strong technology component in their day to day operations; and Pathways to Employment, which is aimed at increasing competitive employment of people with disabilities.
Specific times are also designated during this quarterly meeting to receive public comment, supported by a toll-free call-in line, and input is encouraged and greatly appreciated. Individuals or organizations can also provide written comments by e-mail at ncd@ncd.gov, by fax at 202-272-2022, or by mail at NCD, 1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850, Washington, DC 20004.
Public comment sessions will be held Monday, July 20, 11:30 a.m. until noon and on Tuesday, July 21, 4:30 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. The toll-free call-in number is (888) 790-6568, and the pass code is “NCD Meeting.” For more information, please contact NCD’s Director of External Affairs, Mark S. Quigley, at mquigley@ncd.gov or by telephone at 202-272-2008.
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July 7, 2009