Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced the bipartisan Supporting And Empowering the Nation to Improve Outcomes that Reaffirm Careers, Activities, and Recreation for the Elderly (SENIOR CARE) Act (S.1476). This bill would lift the Ticket To Work Program's Medicaid age restriction to allow for seniors over the age of 65 to continue to work and keep their Medicaid coverage. Senators Portman and Casey first introduced the SENIOR CARE Act in 2019.
Plain language:
This bill would help older adults with disabilities to have Medicaid while still working.
What it 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 steps:
Contact your Senators to urge support: United States Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Note: a companion House bill has not yet been introduced in the 117th Congress.
CARE Opportunity Act
Representatives Bobby Scott (VA-03), Susan Wild (PA-07), and Susie Lee (NV-03) introduced the Direct Creation, Advancement, and Retention of Employment (CARE) Opportunity Act (H.R. 2999). This bill would invest more than $1 billion over five years in training for direct care workers.
Plain language:
This bill would help direct care workers get training.
What this means to you:
This bill can be a part of the conversation about the $400 billion investment in HCBS as proposed in the American Jobs Plan.
Leave a brief message sharing the Home and Community Based Services and Competitive Integrated Employment are important to you. Ask to be updated on how the Member plans to vote on the Direct CARE Opportunity Act.
Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2021
The Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2021 (H.R.1620) passed the House in March 2021. As passed out of the House, the definition of Domestic Violence includes abuse perpetrated by a family member of, or paid or nonpaid caregiver in an ongoing relationship of trust with an adult with disabilities. The Senate has not yet introduced a bill for consideration.
An analysis of the bill from the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.
Recovery Proposals
Congress continues work on legislative text to respond to The American Families Plan, the American Jobs Plan, and the Republican Senate Leader's Road Map. Priorities in the disability community that are being considered as part of the legislative packages include:
Ending subminimum wages and modernizing disability employment supports to allow for competitive, integrated employment;
Continued expansion of access to Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) for people with disabilities, ending waiting lists for services and ensuring a stable, valued direct support workforce;
Meeting the needs of children, including children with disabilities in childcare and education from birth through college; and
Ensuring all modernization of physical and virtual infrastructures are accessible.
Plain language:
Congress is working on a big bill that could help people with disabilities. You may be hearing about it as a plan for improving our country's infrastructure.
Infrastructure means the buildings, roads, bridges, power lines, and other things our country needs to work every day. It can also include systems that make our country work, like schools, healthcare, and other government services.
What it means to you:
Disability issues are a large part of the American Jobs Plan, creating a need for all members of Congress to hear from you about Home and Community-Based Services and Competitive Integrated Employment. It is very important that all members of Congress are hearing from their constituents about how these investments will impact people and systems in your community.
Email or call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 (voice) or (202) 224-3091(tty) and ask to be connected to your Senators and Representatives.
You can use Congress.gov to find your Members of Congress.
Leave a brief message sharing that Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) and Competitive Integrated Employment are important to you. Ask to be updated on how the Member will support these issues.
Eviction Moratorium
A federal District Court issued an order on May 5th in Alabama Association of Realtors v. HHS finding that the CDC's eviction moratorium exceeds the agency's statutory authority to protect public health. Within hours of the decision, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a notice of appeal of the decision and announced it intends to seek an emergency stay of the order pending appeal. The District Court Judge granted DOJ's request, which means that for now the CDC eviction moratorium remains in effect throughout the country.
Plain language:
People are currently protected from being evicted; the courts are looking at if this protection will continue.
What this means to you:
Protections from eviction continue currently.
Action steps:
The current CDC order is set to expire on June 30, 2021.
People who are behind in rent should be connected to the over $45 billion in emergency rental and utility assistance funds appropriated by Congress.
You can check out this resource from NLIHC and the National League of Cities for state and local officials on Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Programs.
Congress may consider more rental assistance in recovery legislation. You can learn more about the needs of people with disabilities in a new blog from CBPP.
Impact of COVID-19 on Students with Disabilities
The House Committee on Education and Labor subcommittee hearing was held on May 6th on the impact of COVID on Students with Disabilities: Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee.
The President will likely announce this week an effort to get the nation's younger adolescents vaccinated as soon as possible, if a vaccine gains authorization for this age group from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is recommended for use by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which will meet following FDA approval, has scheduled an emergency meeting for May 12, 2021.
Text GETVAX (438829) for English or VACUNA (822862) for Spanish to receive three vaccine sites on your phone within seconds.
Call the National COVID-19 Vaccination Assistance Hotline at 1-800-232-0233 for those who prefer to get information via phone call. The call center can assist in 150+ langauges and features a TTY line (1-888-720-7489).
Messaging Resources:
Share the TWL #SleeveUp episode to encourage people with disabilities to get vaccinated.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) re-introduced the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R.3). The bill would:
Empower the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate prescription drug prices in Medicare and make those negotiated prices available to commercial health insurance plans.
Cap Medicare beneficiaries' out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs at $2,000 per year.
The National Council on Disability sent a letter to the House expressing concerns about H.R. 3. The letter reflected concerns from the disability community:
"Drug prices need to be lowered. They should not be permitted to be lowered based on the use of a pricing methodology that has unarguably been proven to be discriminatory in its use against persons with disabilities. Acceptance of foreign drug prices set in reliance on the QALY method effectively endorses the use of this discriminatory pricing methodology."
Plain language:
Congress is working on a bill to lower the cost of medications. They need to hear from you about why people with disabilities are opposed to referencing Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) used in other countries.
What it means to you:
The Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act may have provisions that you support and that benefit people with disabilities. As it is currently written there is reason to be concerned that it could increase discrimination.
Read the open letter to Congress and the Administration from the disability community on the importance of ensuring that discriminatory Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) and similar metrics based on averages are not a part of any health care legislation.
Email or call the Capitol Switchboard at: (202) 224-3121 (voice) or (202) 224-3091 (tty) and connect to your Members of Congress.
You can use this easy tool to find your Members of Congress.
Policy Talk
Have a personal or professional connection to disability policy? Submit a post to AUCD Policy Talk! Check out submission guidelines.
Tuesdays with Liz
Learn about the #AUCD2021 Conference and what next year's Board President Dr. Danny Armstrong has in store. This year's theme is research! Read more about the Conference and proposals here.
Did you know that Liz has a new YouTube Channel? You can help spread her message by:
Subscribing to the Tuesdays with Liz YouTube Channel!
A network of interdisciplinary centers advancing policy and practice for and with individuals with developmental and other disabilities, their families, and communities.
SENIOR CARE Act
Eviction Moratorium
Pfizer Vaccine for 12 year-olds
Policy Talk
