September 2011

 Number of Uninsured Americans Stays Flat in 2010
According to a new U.S. Census report released last week, poverty increased, household earnings dropped and more families doubled up in living quarters, as the nation’s rate of people without health insurance in 2010 stayed flat at 16.3 percent of the population, statistically the same as the year before. The government said 49.9 million people lacked coverage in 2010, up from 49.0 million in 2009. The number of people with health insurance grew to 256.2 million in 2010 from 255.3 in 2009.

Employers Cutting Disability Insurance
Kaiser Health News reports that more employers are shifting costs onto their employees by decreasing or cutting disability coverage benefits. According to the Social Security Administration, a 20-year-old has about a 30 percent chance of becoming disabled by the time he/she retires. The top reasons for new claims last year, according to the organization's annual claim study, were musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis or back problems, followed by cancer.

Special Education Spending
Public school districts that want to reduce special education spending from one year to the next without restoring what was cut, now have the blessing of the U.S. Department of Education. In the past, federal law was interpreted to mean that once a district set its special education budget, it could not be reduced permanently except for very specific reasons. Now, if districts lower their special education spending for any reason, whether or not it’s because of one of the exceptions built into federal law, the Education Department says it’s now permissible to never resume spending at the previously higher level.

Regulations to Improve Outcomes for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities
The U.S. Department of Education released the final regulations for the early intervention program under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) last week. These final regulations will help improve services and outcomes for America's infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.   Part C is a $436 million program administered by states that serves infants and toddlers through age 2 with developmental delays or who have diagnosed physical or mental conditions with high probabilities of resulting in developmental delays. The final Part C regulations incorporate provisions in the 2004 amendments to Part C of the IDEA.

Combating Autism Reauthorization Act
The Combating Autism Reauthorization Act (CARA - H.R. 2005) faced serious obstacles in Congress. The bill ultimately passed and is expected to be signed by the President.

Republican Governors Want States to Decide Medicaid Rules
Governors argued that states should be allowed to design their own Medicaid programs and operate them with block grants. They also want the freedom to custom-design Medicaid programs by state so they can provide the best care to children, the poor, and disabled without federal rules and the waivers required to get around them. The governors will lobby this plan to the Congressional Budget Super Committee when they visit Washington in October.

Illinois' Cook County Reaches Settlement for Nursing Home Residents
Medicaid-eligible people with disabilities who have been forced by the state to live in nursing homes will now have the option of living at home and receiving support services there. The change comes as the result of a class-action discrimination lawsuit filed against the State of Illinois by Chicago-based Access Living, on behalf of about 20,000 people with physical disabilities or mental illness who now live in Cook County nursing homes.

Cuts Could Have Huge Affect on Texas Disability Population
The Texas Department of Aging & Disability Services will, by December 1, 2011, put new caps on services provided to people enrolled in four state disability programs. The programs, designed to keep people with profound disabilities out of institutional settings serve approximately nearly 48,000 people. The new service caps could affect up to 12,000 people and include services such as speech, physical therapy and respite.

Tentative Settlement Reached in Maine Disabled Rights Case
Attorneys for as many as 75 disabled people living in Maine nursing homes say they have reached a proposed settlement with the state in a lawsuit over their clients' rights to access more services under federal law. The lawsuit alleged that in the operation of its Medicaid program, the Maine Department of Health & Human Services violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Nursing Home Reform Act. The class action lawsuit was brought on behalf of people diagnosed with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other related conditions who were forced to live in nursing homes throughout the state of Maine, even though they have no cognitive impairment and some of them are in their 20s.

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.