How Will Health Care Reform Impact New Yorkers?

Health Care Reform is finally law. But how it will affect us in New York will depend on many decisions made about implementation. Read what New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage (NYFAHC) Legislative Counsel, Mark Scherzer, had to say in the Huffington Post about what we still need to do to improve the situation for sicker consumers who need to buy their own coverage here. Just click on “Mark Scherzer” in the article to reach his comments. And tell us how you think health care reform will change or not change your situation.

The Governor’s Proposal to Cut Services Lead to Worse Outcomes for People with Disabilities and May Cost Tax Payers More

People who are able to survive and thrive in their own homes may soon lose their independence and their health if the Governors proposal to limit personal care services passes. Their only alternatives may be to move into managed care programs that are not designed for them, or to move back into institutions such as nursing homes.

Currently, 5,000 of the 73,000 individuals receiving home care have such severe disabilities due to advanced Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, quadriplegia and other disabilities, that they need assistance day and night. They are medically stable, but need personal care services to help them to go to the bathroom, administer a nebulizer or oxygen, and turn over in bed to prevent deadly pressure sores that require hospitalization, or stay safe when they wake up at night.

New York has just begun to implement a Long Term Care Assessment Center demonstration program. This demonstration should be given an opportunity to show that it can identify any over-utilization that might exist and substitute an appropriate level of service before a drastic statewide cut for thousands of vulnerable people who could be harmed by limiting care.

If you would like more detailed information on the Governor’s proposal, click here. If you would like to join our effort to change the Governor’s mind and you receive more than 12 hours of personal care, contact Heidi Siegfried a hsiegfried@cidny.org or 646.442.4741.

For People with Serious Illness and Disabilities, “Cadillac” Health Plans are the dependable “cars” they need.

Rather than tax millionaires to help finance health care reform, as the House bill does, Senate health reform legislation taxes comprehensive group health policies, called “Cadillac” plans. To avoid the tax, recent surveys of employers tell us that 87 percent would reduce comprehensive benefits, leaving many without adequate coverage. Mark Scherzer, Legislative Counsel to New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage (a project of CIDNY), explains in a letter published in the New York Times why comprehensive coverage is indispensible to people who are seriously ill and disabled. Read his letter and the article he is responding to here.

New York State Juvenile Justice System Sued for Abuse of Children with Disabilities

Many of the young people who enter juvenile justice facilities have mental illness, developmental disabilities, or both. According to the U.S. Department of Justice and advocates, instead of receiving treatment, these young people are often abused by facility staff. A complaint has been filed in federal court to end the use of excessive force and to get these children with disabilities the mental health treatment that they need.

To learn more, read the complaint by the Legal Aid Society of NYC, and an article in the New York Times

summarizing the lawsuit.

Adult Home Residents Demand that the Governor Obey the Law

Residents of adult homes and advocates for independent living held a rally on November 24, 2009, outside Governor Paterson’s Manhattan office timed to coincide with a rally and press conference in Albany. They demanded that Paterson obey a court decision ordering him to move 4,300 residents out of adult homes and into community apartments with any needed supports. The order covers 28 adult homes that are particularly large and institutional; with more than 250 residents per facility. A resident attending the rally described his adult home as “a hellhole.”
The Governor has told the court that instead of moving 4,300 residents into real homes, the state will only move 1,000, and even this may not happen if the Legislature does not put money in the budget specifically for this purpose. He claims that the state has no money to move people out of these institutions, even though people with disabilities know that anytime people move from a restrictive institution back into the community, with appropriate supports, the state saves money.

The Department of Justice has intervened to tell the Governor to obey the law, citing failure to comply with the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision since 2002 and echoing the sentiment of the crowd at the rally…the Paterson plan is too little and too late.

NEW YORK’S BUDGET CONVERSATION IS SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL: “OPTIONAL” MEDICAID SERVICES AND POPULATIONS ARE ANYTHING BUT OPTIONAL

Some lawmakers want devastating cuts in the safety-net that will jeopardize New York’s health and safety. They’ve put vital services and people’s lives on the table to achieve short-term savings. The problem is that their short-term cuts to coverage of people and services will cause an immediate skyrocketing of much more intensive and expensive Medicaid hospital and nursing home costs to the State and the counties. The State will sacrifice federal dollars that flow into our local communities and create jobs.

Our seniors, people with disabilities and children are being endangered. Children without health care cannot fight H1N1. Adults without wheelchairs will be imprisoned in their homes. Diabetics with no dental care will rapidly develop uncontrolled bacterial and fungal infections that can be life-threatening. Children using ventilators at home will be institutionalized and lose their childhoods. Individuals without eyeglasses or hearing aids won’t be safe on the streets. Patients who don’t understand their doctors language will take the wrong dose of medication and need hospital care. Seniors who can’t shop, cook or safely go to the toilet will be in nursing homes by week’s end. Families on the edge will break without clinical psychological help.

This is the wrong medicine for New York—our Medicaid program keeps us safe and well. We’re better than this. Say no to cuts to Medicaid “optional” people and care.

Tell them that cutting “optional” Medicaid people and services is unacceptable. We will hold them accountable.Call These individuals immediately!

Senator Skelos: 518-455-3171

Assemblymember Silver: 518-455-3791

Senator Sampson: 518-455-2788

Senator Kruger 518-455-2460

Senator Padavan 518-455-3381

Do you feel offended by the Travel Channel’s broadcast of a live “ghost hunting” show from a locked-down former mental hospital?

GHOST HUNTING SHOW AT ASYLUM DRAWS FLACK (Tuesday, October 27, 2009)

A Travel Channel show is hosting a live lockdown for Halloween, but disability rights advocates worry ghost hunting events produce negative stereotypes about people with mental illness. The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was built in the late 19th century.

….The hospital performed intense therapy on patients for many years. Neurologist Walter Freeman spent some time practicing at the hospital. He is considered to have perfected a graphic procedure commonly known as an ``ice-pick lobotomy.''

Read more at:
http://online.indianagazette.com/articles/2009/10/28/news/us_and_world/10026785.txt
Click on “comments” below to post your opinion about this show, or send feedback to the Travel
Channel at: http://www.travelchannel.com/About/Viewer_Relations

You may be more offended by the real-life scary budget news coming out of Albany:

For the next few weeks, the State will be deciding how to balance this year's budget. A lot of bad ideas have been proposed.

People with disabilities are being hit from both sides of the political aisle.

Governor Paterson has refused to consider raising taxes. Instead he wants to:

• Cut SSI benefits by $11 million over the next 5 months
• Cut home care and personal care services by $52 million
• Cut $17 million from education for children with disabilities

Meanwhile New York Republicans want to eliminate all Medicaid services that are labeled "optional" by the federal government. These include many services that people with disabilities need more than others do:

• Respiratory care for people dependent on ventilators
• Wheelchairs, canes, walkers, and crutches (except from a hospital stay)
• Supplies, such as bandages, ostomy bags, and compression stockings
• Physical therapy
• Speech therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Artificial limbs
• Eyeglasses
• Hearing Aids

Please tell the Governor and your State Senator that you don't want any cuts that target people with disabilities!

Click here to find a pre-written email letter that you can change to express your personal views: http://capwiz.com/cidny/issues/alert/?alertid=14263776