Posts filed under: public policy

June 5, 2011
The New York Times
A Disabled Boy’s Death, and a System in Disarray
Jonathan Carey did not die for lack of money. New York State and the federal government provided $1.4 million annually per person to care for Jonathan and the other residents of the Oswald D. Heck Developmental Center, a warren of low-rise concrete and brick buildings near Albany.
Leave a comment

Filed Under: developmental disability, healthcare, long-term care, public policy

June 2, 2011
Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal
Lawsuit takes aim at Medicaid-program changes that reduce access to home care for elderly
Health-care providers on Wednesday lambasted state changes to a Medicaid program that make it harder for patients, particularly the elderly, to get in-home care for such everyday activities as eating, bathing and going to the bathroom.
Leave a comment

Filed Under: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), healthcare, long-term care, Olmsted decision, public policy

June 2, 2011
The Washington Post
Does cutting mental health care increase the prison population?
State-supported mental health care, like many social services, has been especially vulnerable in the recent rounds of budget cuts. Over the past two years, some $1.6 billion has been slashed from non-Medicaid state spending on mental health, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But a growing number of law enforcement officials — along with mental health advocates — are voicing concerns that such cutbacks not only hurt mental health beneficiaries but also overburden the country’s prison system.
Leave a comment

Filed Under: criminal justice, healthcare, psychiatric disability, public policy

June 1, 2011
The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Suit seeks to stop cuts in home care for disabled people
Advocates for people with disabilities have filed a federal class-action lawsuit seeking to block the state from cutting in-home care services to 4,000 low-income individuals who need extensive assistance to remain at home and out of an institution.
Leave a comment

Filed Under: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), healthcare, long-term care, Olmsted decision, public policy

June 1, 2011
Los Angeles Times
Mental health programs suffering from budget cuts
Reporting from Reno— The woman slouched on the steps of the rundown motel, her hair mussed, her pinkish outfit rumpled, her expression perplexed. Health officials were combing the brick-facade building where she lived for bed bugs as part of a multi-agency raid, while police banged on door after door, hunting for ex-felons.
Leave a comment

Filed Under: healthcare, psychiatric disability, public policy

May 30, 2011
Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Broward files its first emotional disability pet lawsuit
The senior citizen in Deerfield Beach’s Century Village is so incensed over her condo’s refusal to honor her doctor’s “prescription’’ that she live with her dog, Sweetie, for emotional support, and the retaliation she says she suffered over her request, she’s made a federal case out of it, literally. Broward County government has taken her cause to the courthouse, and the public is paying for it.
Leave a comment

Filed Under: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), hidden disability, housing, public policy

May 30, 2011
The Oklahoman
Sen. Tom Coburn worries disability program being used for unemployment benefits
Sen. Tom Coburn wants a meeting with the top Social Security Administration investigator to discuss the increase in people receiving disability payments, saying he's concerned that some may be using the program as “an extension of unemployment benefits.”
Leave a comment

Filed Under: public policy, Social Security

May 29, 2011
The Boston Globe
Mislabeling kids as ADHD? Investigate federal rules
GOOD INTENTIONS have gone awry in the federal program that gives cash benefits to families of disabled children, and a comprehensive assessment of the program’s weaknesses is the first step toward fixing it. Given the strong possibility that children are being misclassified as disabled to make their families eligible for checks of up to $700 a month, Congress should happily pay the $10 million or so needed to fund a study of the program by the well-regarded Institute of Medicine. And then it should quickly implement any changes based on the institute’s findings before more children are misclassified.
Leave a comment

Filed Under: learning disability, public policy, Social Security

May 27, 2011
MetroWest Daily News (Framingham, Mass.)
Activists seek more from Americans with Disabilities Act
For Karen Foran Dempsey, efforts to provide equal opportunities for people with disabilities have not slowed since last year's 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Leave a comment

Filed Under: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), disability awareness, public policy

May 24, 2011
Psych Central
Disaster Plans Should Include Those with Mental Illness
When disaster strikes — whether a deadly supercell tornado, a flood, or man-made catastrophe — it is not just those with physical injuries and trauma-related disorders who suffer.
Leave a comment

Filed Under: disaster planning, psychiatric disability, public policy, public safety

  • Areas of Interest