Disability Policy News In Brief

But it's not Monday!? Enjoy a special edition of InBrief to wrap up disability policy happenings of 2019.

Budget and Appropriations

Congress passed a spending package to fund the federal government for fiscal 2020. Labor-HHS-Ed Appropriations includes positive news for the disability community. This avoided another Continuing Resolution or government shutdown. A reminder of process: this bill was voted by the whole House, then the Senate, with the final step of the President signing it. Reminder of terms: a federal appropriation is the act of setting aside a part of the federal budget to a specific program or use.

Plain Language:

• Congress passed a deal to fund the government so there would not be a shutdown.

What this means to you:

• Many programs that impact the disability community and your centers received level funding and even increases in funding.

Action Step:

• Read the full text of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020
• Read AUCD's First Look
  
• Reach out to your Members of Congress to thank them for their hard work in finalizing appropriations and the commitment to funding programs related to disability.

AUCD's Appropriation Advocacy

AUCD works directly to advocate for the following budget lines:

University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service (UCEDDs)

*The agreement includes $1,000,000 to establish a pilot program to support partnerships between existing University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and highly-qualified, non-profit service providers to develop models that offer individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and their families with community-based adult transition and daytime services to support independent living.

Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND)

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Projects of National Significance

Additional Programs of Note

AUCD works in a variety of efforts to support diverse appropriation priorities that touch the lives of people with disabilities, including: 

Healthcare Extenders:

• The package includes a 5-month reauthorization of the Money Follows the Person (MFP) and Spousal Impoverishment through May 22, 2020. This means that permanent reauthorization remains an option, which would not have been the case had they done a 2- or 3-year extension. We expect Congress to pass a healthcare extenders package as part of a larger healthcare, drug pricing, and surprise medical billing package in May, to include MFP, HCBS Spousal Impoverishment protections, and several other extenders.

• The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) was reauthorized for 10 years and included a positive change for our community - the addition of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) as an explicit priority for research. Since PCORI's creation, AUCD has been actively engaged in ensuring that PCORI identified people with disabilities as a population experiencing disparities, therefore prioritizing research to improve their care. This provision will ensure that merit reviewers specifically prioritize funding for projects related to IDD. We are excited to work with PCORI to bring together stakeholders early in 2020 to identify the most important and useful research questions that they should be funding related to IDD.

Healthcare Taxes:

• The agreement repeals the excise tax on high-cost health plans, or the "Cadillac tax," which was one of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) major cost-control elements. There are some legitimate concerns about the tax as it was designed, yet repealing the Cadillac tax creates expected reduction in revenues by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next ten years. 

• The agreement provides two years of additional Medicaid funding for Puerto Rico and the other territories, which is short of the four years of funding that lawmakers had previously agreed to on a bipartisan basis.

Developmental Disabilities Act:

Developmental Disability Councils

Protection and Advocacy

Education:

Early Intervention Programs (Part C)

Individuals with Disabilities Education Action (Part B)

Postsecondary Program for Students with Intellectual Disabilities

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act:

Independent Living Programs

National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)

Assistive Technology Programs

Office of Disability Employment Policy

Health Resources and Services Administration:

Maternal and Child Health Block Grant

National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities:

Disability & Health

Autism

Health and Development for People with Disabilities

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome

Healthcare

The Appeals Court decision in the Health Care Repeal Lawsuit, Texas v US, was announced December 19, 2019. The plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act after Congress enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which "zeroed out" the individual mandate penalty beginning in 2019. Without the penalty, the plaintiffs argue that the mandate is unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments over whether to affirm or reverse the district court decision that declared the entire ACA invalid because of this change. The panel (by a 2-1 vote) upheld the lower court decision declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional, but stated that other parts of the law need "further review." What that will mean remains unclear. The decision threatens both the ACA's Medicaid expansion provision and the availability of federal financial assistance for meaningful coverage in the individual market. The suit aims to overturn basic consumer protections that were included in the ACA - such as the provision that allows children under 26 years old to be covered under their parents' plans, the prohibition on lifetime and yearly dollar limits on coverage, and free preventive care. These protections apply to nearly 180 million people who get health insurance through their employer or purchase it on their own in the individual market. This decision has little direct immediate impact, as it will almost certainly be appealed by Democratic-controlled states defending the ACA.   

Plain Language:

• A part of the Affordable Care Act that says everyone has to have healthcare is being questioned if it is allowed. More fighting about this will happen.

What this means to you:

• The Fifth Circuit Court's decision today could still lead to millions of Americans losing their health care.

Action Steps:

• Use this advocacy guide to amplify your voice.

• Read the Amicus Brief. (Amicus briefs are legal documents filed in court cases by interested members of the community. The briefs advise the court of relevant, additional information or arguments that the court might wish to consider which can have significant impact on judicial decision-making.)

Aging

Rep. Joyce Beatty (OH-03) and Rep. Steve Stivers (OH-15) introduced the SENIOR CARE Act, H.R. 5429, to allow for greater participation by adults over the age of 65 with disabilities in state Medicaid programs. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced companion legislation in the Senate (S 3010). It would eliminate the age limit for Medicaid buy-in programs for adults with disabilities, allowing those over the age of 65 to continue working.

Plain Language:

• This bill would help older adults with disabilities to have Medicaid while still working.

What this means to you:

• Under current law, when individuals with disabilities reach 65, they are often forced to make a choice between their job and their Medicaid benefits. Unfortunately, the advantages of meaningful employment are not enough to offset the increased healthcare costs that would result from a loss of Medicaid benefits. While many individuals find meaning in their work well into their later years, the current system discourages workers with disabilities from staying on the job they enjoy.

Action Step:

• Contact your members of Congress to urge support: United States Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121.

Congressional Openings

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC-11^th District) announced this week that he will retire from Congress at the end of his term. Election for his seat will occur November 2020. He adds to the growing list of special elections, retirements, and resignations.

Disability Policy Seminar

Registration is now open for the Disability Policy Seminar and the AUCD Emerging Leaders Policy Forum.  Learn more information about the events.

You do need to register for both events if you plan to attend the Sunday AUCD Policy Forum before DPS.

• Register for the AUCD Policy Forum at https://www.aucd.org/meetings/register.cfm?id=315
• Register for DPS at https://disabilitypolicyseminar.org/

• Contact Rylin Rodgers at [email protected] or Sarah Mueller at [email protected] for questions

Kennedy Policy Fellowship

The Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation Public Policy Fellowship, a 1yr intensive immersion experience in Washington DC for emerging leaders in the area of inclusive community supports for people with intellectual & developmental disabilities is accepting application Read the guidelines and application.

AUCD Policy Talk

A Tuesdays with Liz cross over with AUCD Policy Talk! Check out what Liz has to say about belonging. How are you creating a sense of belonging over the holidays and beyond in your communities and university centers?

Action Steps:

• Read our blog submission guidelines and further details and submit a story today!