New Horizons Un-Limited Inc. New Horizons Un-Limited Inc.We encourage you to contact your Representatives and Senators to let them know how you feel about the legislation listed here. To locate your elected officials, visit the House of Representatives online at www.house.gov/ and the United States Senate at www.senate.gov/.
To learn more about the specific measures and bills outlined here, visit The Library of Congress' Thomas Online.
December 2009 - Health Care Reform - Final House and Senate bill Side-by-Side comparisonWith the recent passage of the Health Care Reform bill in the Senate, the next step is to combine the Senate Bill with the House bill, approved earlier this fall. So that you may have a better idea of exactly what each bill provides, PICO National Network has developed a chart that compares where we are now to what each bill would provide concerning health care. The chart is available online by visiting www.piconetwork.org/admin/documents/files/Comparison-of-current-health-care-with-Senate-and-House-reform-bills.pdf.
December 2009 - Legislation to protect all children in schools from abuseOn December 9, 2009, U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) introduced legislation that would, for the first time, protect all children in schools from harmful uses of restraint and seclusion. This bill has a particular focus on protecting students with disabilities, who have disproportionately been abused, according to a spring 2009 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, as a result of inappropriate uses of restraint and seclusion, often involving untrained staff.
The Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act (H.R. 4247) would establish the first federal standards to protect students from misuse of restraint and seclusion and ensure the safety of everyone in the classroom. It would apply to public schools, private schools and preschools receiving federal education support.
To read more on this bill, visit the Committee on Education and Labor Newsroom at edlabor.house.gov/newsroom/2009/12/lawmakers-introduce-bipartisan.shtml.
The Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (ABLE) of 2009 (S 493/HR 1205) has been introduced in both the Senate and House. The ABLE Act will give individuals with disabilities and families of those with disabilities the opportunity to save for services and items that will help people with disabilities live full, productive lives in their communities. Savings in these accounts will not be counted as assets and will therefore not jeapordize eligibility for important benefit programs such as SSI or Medicaid. Distributions from an ABLE account could help pay for such essential expenses as medical and dental care, education, community based supports, employment training, assistive technology, housing, and transportation.
To learn more, check out the Justice For All article, Action Alert: Support ABLE Act Which Allows Families to Save for Children with Disabilities.
U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski recently introduced “Rosa’s Law,” a bill that will eliminate the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” from the federal law books. Used instead will be “intellectual disability” and “individual with an intellectual disability”. The bill will not change who is served, rather it will simply make the language of federal law consistent with the terminology used by the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and the President of the United States, through his Committee on Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. This bill is widely supported by a variety of disability advocacy organizations and is seen as an important step to diminish the stereotypes and negativity people with intellectual disabilities often face.
The Disability Coalition on Healthcare Reform has developed a chart that outlines how the provisions of both the Senate and House versions of the Health Reform Bill would impact people with disabilities. Check out the DCHR document ACCESS AND CHOICE: National Health Care Reform for People with Disabilities.
The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS Act ) would create a national, voluntary disability insurance program that would provide benefits, based on the level of disability, to purchase non-medical services and supports that the beneficiary needs to maintain independence.
To learn more about the CLASS Act and how it pertains to Health Care Reform, visit Pass the CLASS Act online at www.passtheclassact.org.
The House and Senate are busy combining their various Health Care Reform Bills. Now is the time to contact the committee members to express your concern that CLASS be considered in the final versions of their bills.
Following are links to the major bills being considered:
Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 - passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, by a party line vote of 13-10. The CLASS Act is contained in section 191 of this bill.
The debate on Health Care Reform is in full swing. There are numerous reform bills in various stages floating about the House and Senate. Each bill has slightly different policies and will be revised extensively in the coming months. In the end, all existing bills must be combined into one for final approval.
To help clear the confusion and misconceptions, NHU has developed a guide providing an overview of two of the main bills currently under consideration. To review this guide, visit Understanding Health Care Reform.
You may also wish to check out HealthReform.gov for White House updates as well as a list of scheduled public forums and discussions.
On Friday, June 26, 2009 Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced comprehensive legislation to ensure that people with disabilities have access to Internet-based telecommunications and video programming technologies. Among the items included in the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3101):
The CLASS Act is an amendment to the Public Health Service Act to help individuals with functional impairments and their families pay for services and supports that they need to maximize their functionality and independence and have choices about community participation, education, and employment. This bill specifically targets working individuals with disabilities - offering an alternative to forced poverty and therefore eligibility for Medicaid.
If approved, the CLASS Act will establish a national insurance program to be financed by voluntary payroll deductions to provide benefits to adults who become severely functionally impaired. To qualify for benefits, individuals must be 18 years old and have contributed to the program at least 5 years. All working adults will be automatically enrolled in the program, unless they choose not to be. There are two benefit tiers:
To learn more about the status of this act, visit Thomas and search for Community Living Assistance Services and Supports.
People with disabilities have a higher stake than any other single population in the United States when in comes to health reform. Make sure the needs of people with disabilities are considered as this administration works to reform our health care system. Visit www.healthreform.gov to read reports, watch videos of the regional health reform forums held this past March, and check out other American's points of view.
A great deal has been accomplished by the Obama Administration thus far for Americans with disabilities...
As reported by the American Association of People with Disabilities
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