  
Action Alert
Action Alert: Preserve Vital Programs to Help Social Security Beneficiaries Work
Major Events Last Week
Budget – House passes budget reconciliation that targets Medicaid and other low income programs
On May 10, by a vote of 218 to 199, the House passed a bill to stop most of the $109 billion in across-the-board spending cuts for FY 2013 scheduled to take effect in January under the Budget Control Act (BCA). It would do so by further reducing the cap on discretionary programs and by cutting mandatory programs. It would lower the cap for non defense discretionary programs by $19 billion, on top of the 6% reduction already required by the BCA in 2013. Mandatory programs would be cut by $310 billion over a decade through a “budget reconciliation” process, disproportionately targeted to programs for low income populations. These cuts include the following that would adversely affect people with disabilities:
- Medicaid reductions of $28 billion over 10 years. This would occur through changes in provider taxes, hospital payments, maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements, and payments to territories. People with disabilities would likely face decreased Medicaid eligibility and benefits as the states adjust to the reduced federal participation.
- Repeal of the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). The $1.7 billion SSBG enables each state to provide social services that include special services to persons with disabilities. One of the SSBG’s five goals is preventing or reducing inappropriate institutional care by providing for home and community-based services.
- Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly known as food stamps). Monthly assistance for 44 million people would be cut by $35 billion and 2 million people will lose SNAP benefits entirely.
- Increase repayment charges for people who receive health insurance subsidies. An estimated 350,000 people would likely forgo coverage, making it more difficult for the health reform law’s insurance exchanges to function effectively. People with low incomes who received the subsidies would be affected if their incomes increase later in the year because they found a job, received a promotion, got married, or for another such reason.
- Elimination of the Prevention and Public Health Fund. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) established this fund to expand investments in prevention and public health, to improve health outcomes, and to enhance health care quality.
- Revisions to the medical liability system by capping non-economic damages to $250,000, limiting attorneys’ fees and other changes.
However, the reconciliation process is not likely to proceed beyond the House of Representatives. A budget resolution, with reconciliation instructions, is unlikely to pass the Senate. However, the existence of a concrete plan to replace the unpopular automatic cuts could give House leaders leverage in discussions that will likely occur later this year, about how to stop the automatic cuts.
Medicaid – Implementation of key aspects of the Affordable Care Act
The Arc joined with the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) to submit comments on two regulations implementing key aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The regulations pertain to how states are to establish the private health insurance markets known as the health insurance exchanges for individuals and small businesses, in addition to implementing changes in Medicaid eligibility required by the ACA. The CCD comments focused on recommendations for strengthening coordination between Medicaid and the exchanges. The comments are posted on the CCD website.
Major Events Ahead
Social Security – Senate to Hold Oversight Hearing
On Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing titled “The Social Security Administration: Is it Meeting its Responsibilities to Save Taxpayer Dollars and Serve the Public?” Visit the Committee web site to review the hearing announcement and for testimony and video the day of the hearing.
Announcements
Employment / Discrimination Complaints
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has private sector workplace discrimination complaint statistics (called “charge receipts” by EEOC) for each of the nation’s 50 states and U.S. Territories for Fiscal Years 2009-2011 available on its website. These data provide a look at EEOC charge receipts, broken down by the basis of discrimination, as well as the percent of total state and national charges. The state data tables are available online at the EEOC website.
|
