October 2010
ADA/Olmstead
The United
States Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into a settlement agreement with
the State of Georgia that applies to
a discreet class of over 900 individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID)
who reside in the state’s institutions. Georgia has agreed to expand home and community based services
(HCBS) in order to support transition of those individuals with ID from institutional
settings to HCBS settings and prohibit future placement of individuals with ID institutions.
The settlement calls for support coordination for the individuals, development
of crisis services for any individual with ID in the state and family support
services for 2,350 families so that they can continue to care for individuals
with ID in the community.
Health Care Reform
A federal judge in Florida has issued a
ruling that will permit further action on litigation challenging the
constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The
court’s decision will allow the states to proceed on the following issues:
whether the law's individual mandate requiring people to buy health insurance
exceeds Congress' constitutional
authority and whether the law's expansion of Medicaid eligibility to additional
low-income people violates state sovereignty because it will require states to
spend billions more on the program.
United States
Congress
The 110th U.S. Congress remained in recess during October in preparation for
November 2nd Elections.
Congress is expected to
reconvene on November 15th for a lame duck session.
Disability Research Website
The U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a new website
for the Center of Excellence for Research on Disability Services, Care
Coordination and Integration. The Center seeks to: identify and review
evidence on effective services and care models; develop and prioritize critical
research questions; create unique linked datasets to help research these
question; establish criteria and standards for assessing the effectiveness of
services and models; and, conduct original research that applies these
standards. The Center’s website is: http://www.hhs.gov/disabilityresearch/index.html.
CMS
Regulations
The Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking public comment for two
regulations implementing provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA):
1.
Improving
the review and transparency of the state and federal development and approval
of Medicaid Section 1115 pilots and demonstration.
2.
New
rules regarding fraud provisions in the Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP program.
The proposed rules enhance screening of providers, require an application fee
and strengthen penalties.
Obama
Administration
The National
Council on Disability (NCD) has announced Aaron Bishop will become its Executive Director. NCD is an independent federal agency
charged with advising the President, Congress,
and other federal officials on all policies, programs, practices and procedures
affecting people with disabilities. NCD’s
mission is to further the goals enshrined in the Americans with Disabilities
Act.
The Administration
on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) has four upcoming summits and are seeking input on the following
questions:
- What
do children with IDD need to live happy lives with their families?
- What
do adults with IDD need to live meaningful lives in their communities?
- What
do seniors with IDD need to live long, healthy lives in their homes?
The date
and location for these summits are listed below:
- November 8: Orlando, Florida
- November 15: Dallas, Texas
- December 2: Detroit, Michigan
- December 6: Denver, Colorado
HUD
Vouchers for People with Disabilities
The
Metropolitan Housing Authorities in five (5) Ohio counties were recently
selected by the United States Department
of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to receive vouchers in excess of
$2.6M to provide rental assistance to non-elderly persons with disabilities.
As a part of President Obama's "Year of Community Living"
initiative, HUD worked in cooperation
with the U.S. Department of Health &
Human Services to provide housing support that would permit individuals
with disabilities to live independently in the community, as opposed to institutional
settings. The five counties awarded vouchers were" Athens (100
vouchers, $450,804); Butler (100 vouchers; $594,252); Fayette (50 vouchers;
$212,202); Lorain (100 vouchers; $592,068); and, Lucas (140 vouchers;
$801,847). For more information about HUD
programs, go to www.hud.gov.
Employment
While
private sector employment was up slightly, state and local governments across
the nation are starting to reduce the number of individuals they employ.
In September 2010, state and local government cut over 83,000 jobs.
That number is expected to grow across the country after November's
elections. While many may view that as a reduction in the cost of
government, the loss of state and local government jobs actually has an adverse
reaction on the economy as those individuals no longer pay income tax, will
clearly reduce what they spend in sales tax; swell the unemployment rolls; and,
potentially swell the Medicaid rolls (i.e., so government losses two forms of
revenue and incurs two new expenses for every individual job cut). Ohio
is not likely to be different than other states when it comes to public sector
employment; many forecasts indicate Ohio may be near the top of that list
(i.e., not top in a positive manner).
Decision Day 2010
At
press time, the outcome of the November elections will not be known, while they
will be known for most races by the time this communication is released. OACB will not speculate on any of the
national races, but will discuss potential impacts on the Developmental
Disabilities service system in future issues of National Perspective.
National Perspective is a publication of the
Ohio Association of County Boards of DD, designed to update
Association members on national and federal issues of interest.
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