What The Shutdown Means For Disability Services

As the first U.S. government shutdown in more than 17 years takes hold, some programs benefiting people with disabilities will continue with business as usual while others grind to a halt.

The shutdown, which began Tuesday, comes after Congress failed to reach a deal to fund the federal government for the new fiscal year starting in October. Under a shutdown, some services considered “essential” will continue operating while many other government activities will come to a standstill as 800,000 federal workers are sent home until a new budget takes effect.

Here’s a look at how the shutdown will impact programs that people with developmental disabilities rely on:

SOCIAL SECURITY Benefit payments will continue to be distributed on schedule to individuals receiving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income. Local offices will be open, but only to perform select services.

MEDICAID Services provided by Medicaid will largely proceed as usual since an advance appropriation ensured that states receive funding for the program on Oct. 1. However, disability advocates say they are worried that the shutdown could exacerbate payment delays that providers of long-term services and supports are already facing. “The long delays have put many of our affiliates in almost untenable cash flow positions and further delays may cause some to cease Medicaid services,” said Katy Neas, senior vice president of government relations at Easter Seals.

HOUSING The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says it will not be able to provide further funding to local housing agencies during the shutdown. However, most local agencies already have enough money to fund rental assistance vouchers for the month of October, more than half of which help the elderly and people with disabilities.

SPECIAL EDUCATION Schools won’t see much impact immediately, with states receiving $22 billion in special education funds on schedule this month from the federal government, the U.S. Department of Education said.

DISABILITY RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT The U.S. Department of Justice says that civil litigation, which includes the enforcement of disability rights laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, will be “curtailed or postponed” to the extent possible.

RESEARCH Developmental disability surveillance programs — which track the prevalence of such conditions — will come to a halt during the shutdown, said Barbara Reynolds of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health will not make any new grant awards for research.

(Author credit and story link HERE)

Emergency Plans Lacking For Most With Disabilities

When disaster strikes, most people with disabilities are unprepared, leaving them vulnerable to injury and even death, a first-of-its-kind survey finds.

Just 20 percent of the world’s people with disabilities could evacuate immediately without difficulty in the event of a disaster, according to the global survey conducted by the United Nations.

Some 6 percent said they would not be able to escape at all while the remainder indicated they could evacuate with varying degrees of difficulty.

For the survey, 5,450 people with disabilities from 126 countries answered 22 questions about their plans in case of a disaster. Preliminary findings were released this week ahead of the International Day for Disaster Reduction on Sunday.

About 7 in 10 individuals polled said they have no personal preparedness plan and only a third said they always have someone available to help them evacuate. Meanwhile, just 17 percent of respondents were aware of the disaster management plan for their city and few had been consulted on their community’s plan.

“The results of this survey are shocking,” said Margareta Wahlström, head of the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. “It clearly reveals that the key reason why a disproportionate number of disabled persons suffer and die in disasters is because their needs are ignored and neglected by the official planning process in the majority of situations. They are often left totally reliant on the kindness of family, friends and neighbors for their survival and safety.”

Survey respondents described taking special precautions when concerned about bad weather, with one sleeping in a wheelchair in order to be able to take cover quickly and another who’s unable to hear sirens staying up to watch storm coverage.

Suggestions from those polled included everything from making sure that wheelchair access is considered in emergency evacuation plans to a recommendation that color-coded systems are avoided since they may be unhelpful for color-blind individuals.

Wahlström said the concerns raised in the survey responses will better inform U.N. member states when they convene for the 2015 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Japan to adopt a new global framework for disaster risk reduction.

(Author credits and story link HERE)

States Divided On ABA Coverage In New Health Exchanges

With state health insurance exchanges now open for business, advocates say they expect plans available in only about half of states to cover autism therapy.

An analysis from Autism Speaks suggests that 26 states and Washington, D.C. will include coverage of applied behavior analysis, or ABA, therapy in insurance plans offered through their exchanges for individuals and small businesses.

Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to provide 10 types of care — including behavioral health treatment — in all plans offered to individuals and small groups starting in 2014. However, determining what exactly falls within each of the required categories was largely left to the states.

As a result, whether or not insurance plans cover autism therapy will continue to depend on which state a family resides in, experts say.

“The devil is in the details,” said Katie Keith, a former research professor at Georgetown University who’s now consulting with Autism Speaks through her role as director of research at the Washington lobbying firm Trimpa Group. “Every plan will say it covers behavioral health treatment but I would encourage families to make sure they know what that means because every state will be different.”

What’s more, Keith warns that even in states where insurance plans cover ABA, there will likely be limitations. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers cannot impose dollar limits, but will likely cap the number of hours or visits that will be covered, she said.

At present, the Autism Speaks analysis indicates that coverage of ABA will be included in health insurance plans offered through exchanges in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

Most of the states identified by the advocacy group are ones that already required autism therapy to be covered by at least some insurance plans within their borders.

Health insurance exchanges across the country opened earlier this month, allowing individuals to purchase coverage that will be available starting Jan. 1, 2014.

By MICHELLE DIAMENT

October 15, 2013

(story provided HERE)