AHRC New York City

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The life Karl Beaman leads today would not have been possible during the dark days of the Willowbrook State School, but proposed budget cuts to programs for the developmentally disabled could begin the march back to that time.

Unless some agreement can be reached, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to impose a 6 percent across-the-board cut in three weeks to agencies that care for these Islanders will severely impact that community, supporters suggested.

“I am pretty independent,” said Beaman, who lives in a Graniteville community residence with his four “best friends.”

“I get around by public transportation and have a part-time job in the community, but I need the ability and trust of family that I get from living with my friends.”

More than 400 supporters attended the Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Council’s (SIDDC) annual legislative breakfast, where speakers inspired participants and politicians to fight the governor’s proposed budget cuts.

Many credited former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, Andrew’s father, with creating a path to a better, more productive life that Beaman enjoys and elevated the state’s reputation as a leader in caring for the disabled.

“How ironic that we have then Governor Mario Cuomo’s name inscribed on a plaque on the grounds of the College of Staten Island where Willowbrook was located, keep the promise,” said Ted Ericson, executive director of Crossroads Unlimited. “And a generation later his own son is breaking that promise.”

A short, dramatized video was shown depicting some of the atrocities committed at Willowbrook, which closed in 1987 and prompted the elder Cuomo to initially make that “promise” to care for the state’s most vulnerable residents.

After the video Karen Malone of Great Kills, overcome with emotion, remembered the horrendous conditions people with disabilities endured at the institution.

“That’s what it’s coming to with all those cuts,” Ms. Malone said. “They just want to put them into institutions again.”

Through tears she remarked how much better things are today, especially for her own autistic son, who attends the Hungerford School, before excusing herself from the presentation.

Continual budget cuts translate into diminished services for the disabled, and the SIDDC wanted to send a message to Staten Island’s politicians that they need to fight, said chairperson Barbara Devaney.

“We’ve sustained cuts over the past three years,” Ms. Devaney said. “We’ve been asked to do more with less. We’re doing that. We’re being creative. But doing more with less is one thing; doing something with nothing is impossible.”

State Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) and Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island) vowed not to let the 6 percent cuts go through, while Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-North Shore) said he and his colleagues “get it” and were in the fight with the community to prevent the cuts.

Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn) and Assemblyman Joseph Borelli (R-South Shore) were in attendance.

Representatives for Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island), and city council members James Oddo, Vincent Ignizio and Debi Rose also were in attendance at The Vanderbilt in South Beach Friday.

The following article is reposted from the February 10, 2013  edition of the Times Union in Albany, New York:

Point to a government program, declare “Waste! Fraud! Abuse!” and vow to clean it up, and you’re sure to get applause from budget hawks. And with a program as big as New York’s $54 billion Medicaid operation, you’re pretty much guaranteed to find something if you poke around.

What the federal government says it found is not small change — at least $15 billion in improper payments to the state over 20 years. But as with everything in politics — and, yes, this is as much politics as it is dollars and cents — there’s more to the numbers than meets the eye.

The money represents what the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services says New York improperly — possibly illegally — billed it for reimbursements for disabled people who had been released from state developmental centers. CMS says the federal government was paying twice — once to New York for former clients, and again to other care providers who actually served them after they were released from state care.

Ah, but there’s a hitch: CMS knew of the arrangement and approved the payments.

Now CMS wants the money back. And the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform says it’s one more piece of evidence that New York’s Medicaid program is the most wasteful in the nation.

To be sure, Medicaid in this state bears closer examination. Federal Medicaid funds are for health care for the poor, not for fattening state coffers.

But there’s abuse, and then there’s abuse. Misinterpretation of the rules is by no means the same as, say, doctors billing for fictitious patients.

That isn’t stopping House Republicans, though, who have had this country’s great social programs — Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security — in their sights for years. What better example than one of the bluest states? Especially when New York is in line for a $10 billion bonus for reforms it has made to Medicaid.

New York’s program is so big mainly because governors — Democrats and Republicans alike, over decades — have taken maximum advantage of a 50-50 federal-state split on Medicaid to provide health care to the poor. Billing half the cost to the federal government is one way New York can at least begin to make up for the fact that its citizens send far more money to Washington than the state gets back — money that tends, incidentally, to go mostly to red states.

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Posted 1.3.13 by NYSARC Inc.

Last Friday, NYSARC learned on a White House conference call that immediate efforts to resolve the “fiscal cliff” would focus on tax issues, not spending and entitlements. The White House indicated that the focus would shift to entitlements after those tax issues were dealt with.

That happened over the weekend through legislation passed by the Senate and House which the President is expected to sign shortly. The legislation narrowly averts massive tax hikes for all except earners filing jointly who make in excess of $450,000 or $400,000 for earners filing individually.

Medicaid likely to come up in February – March. With tax issues mostly resolved, it expected that the battle over the federal deficit will begin to shift to spending, particularly to entitlement spending. Entitlements include Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Medicaid is backbone to funding almost all services for people with development throughout the nation. (NOTE: Also at risk are discretionary programs including IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation, Early Intervention, HUD)

The February -March is significant since that is when the nation’s debt ceiling will, according to current projections, need to be increased. Republicans have vowed to hold off approving a debt ceiling increase unless there are very significant spending cuts especially in entitlements.

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National Results: Deep Divisions Persist
by Paul Marchand

I write this blog less than a day after our national election has been held.  After billions of dollars have been spent on political campaigns, the overall look of the Presidency and Congress will change very little next year.  After approximately 120 million Americans cast their votes, President Obama has been re-elected by a slim 2 percent margin (although he did win the Electoral College vote by a bigger margin by nearly sweeping all of the 11 states deemed competitive). President Obama won 26 states and Governor Romney won 24 states.  Thus our country continues on a path of deep division between all political persuasions.

Very little has changed in both Houses of Congress.  House Republicans will still retain their significant majority.  House Democrats will gain only a small handful of seats, leaving the Republicans with at least a 20 vote majority.

Senate Democrats added 2 additional Senators to their ranks, giving them 53 of the 100 seats.  Independent Senator Sanders (I-VT) is expected to continue to align himself with the Democrats, adding to the Democratic majority. Newly elected Senator King (I-ME) has yet to decide which party he will caucus with.  In the end, only 10 new Senators will serve in the 113th Congress, a typical turnover rate.

Overall, the President and neither party can claim a clear mandate from the voters.  Most policy challenges that were here yesterday will be there when the new Congress is sworn in and the President’s inauguration takes place in January.

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Call Today: Help Protect Federal Disability Programs

Today is Non-Defense Discretionary (NDD) Call Day.

Background

While The Arc has been successful so far in its advocacy to prevent cuts to the Medicaid program, many other essential programs are facing severe reductions.  The federal discretionary programs that people with disabilities rely upon to live in the community (early intervention, special education, supported employment, housing, transportation, and more) are slated for unprecedented cuts starting in 2013. 

Last year’s Budget Control Act (BCA) will require non-defense discretionary programs to be cut dramatically, unless Congress changes the law.  First, they will be cut by about 6% over a decade through the BCA’s spending caps.  Then they are scheduled to be cut by an additional 8 % through the BCA’s across-the-board cuts (known as “sequestration”) starting in early 2013.  The individual programs we care most about could possibly be cut by even greater amounts or eliminated entirely!

Examples of individual programs that could be cut are:

IDEA State Grant  that assists the states in meeting the costs of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities.
DD Act Projects of National Significance (PNS) that enhance the independence, productivity, inclusion, and integration of people with developmental disabilities. 
CDC National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities that sponsors research and  interventions  to help children with disabilities to develop and reach their full potential, and promotes health and well-being among people of all ages with disabilities.
Section 811 Supportive Housing for People with Disabilities that creates affordable, accessible housing for low-income non-elderly people with the most serious disabilities to help them live independently in the community.

Take Action

Please call your Members of Congress and remind them of the importance of these critical programs.   Click on the Take Action link above to get your Members’ office phone numbers.

Election 2012:  This special Politics As It Happens series deals with the potential impact of the 2012 Elections.  NYSARC, Inc. is a non-partisan organization which endorses neither political party.  During the course of the election season we will attempt to present articles that deal with all sides of issues critical to the people we serve.

People with developmental disabilities critically depend on programs and services funded through Medicaid.  Now, with the selection of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential running mate, there is enormous focus on the “Ryan budget” and his plans to overhaul the nation’s two big entitlement programs, Medicare and Medicaid.

While both programs play a role in services for people with developmental disabilities, Medicaid is of special importance.  Of particular interest is Ryan’s plan to convert Medicaid into a block grant.

Paul Marchand covers the topic in NYSARC’s “Politics As It Happens” and the upcoming edition of OVT (read it here first: Medicaid Block Grant Proposal Poses Risks) as well as in the prior edition of OVT (read it here: Federal Block Grants–Are They Effective?).

The article below, from Kaiser Health News, discusses the Ryan Plan for Medicaid.  The next article discusses his entire record on health care issues.  Within these two articles there is plenty for interested readers to pick from.

Kaiser Health News Medicaid article:
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2012/August/15/medicaid-ryan-faq.aspx

Kaiser Health News Ryan health care record article
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2012/August/11/paul-ryan-republican-vice-president-candidate-medicare.aspx