Fw: Arc and s Law Passes the US Senate

[Guest guest]

FYI

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...

Arc and s Law Passes the US Senate

The Arc of Illinois

August 10, 2010

Leaders in The Arc:

There is a lot of activity on disability issues in Washington D.C. at this time.

Our Disability Policy Collaboration has summarized two very important national

issues I wanted to share with you.

I am very pleased with the Senate passage of s Law. I was glad to see that

Senator Burris signed on to s Law at our urging when we were in D.C. last

spring. In the House, Rep Gutierrez, V, IL-4, is the only Illinois

Congressperson to sign on to the Connelly Act (H.R. 4544) so we have

work to do here!

Tony auski

The Arc of Illinois

815-464-1832

Terminology

Late in the evening of August 5, the Senate adopted, by unanimous consent, s

Law (S. 2781). This bill would change the terms mental retardation and mentally

retarded to intellectual disability and intellectually disabled in various

federal laws that primarily relate to education and employment. The bill is

solely intended to eliminate antiquated terminology. s Law would not affect

eligibility for services or expand or reduce service availability. Attention

now shifts to the House where a similar bill, known as the A. Connelly

Act (H.R. 4544), is still awaiting committee action.

Health Care Reform/ Medicaid

On August 6, The Center for Medicaid, CHIP and Survey & Certification released a

letter in their series of guidance on implementation of the Affordable Care Act

of 2010. This letter provides information about several changes to Section

1915(i) of the Social Security Act as a result of the passage of the Affordable

Care Act. These changes, which become effective October 1, 2010, include

revised and new options for offering home and community-based services (HCBS)

through the Medicaid State plan. Among other things, section 1915(i) removes

the requirement that individuals meet an institutional level of care in order to

qualify for HCBS through Medicaid. Section 1915(i) provides States an

opportunity to offer services and supports before individuals need institutional

care, and also provides a mechanism to provide State plan HCBS to individuals

with mental health and substance use disorders. In order to promote State

utilization of 1915(i), the Affordable Care Act includes changes that enable

states to target HCBS to particular groups of people, to make HCBS accessible to

more individuals, and to ensure that individuals receive high quality care. See

the letter at:

http://www.nacdd.org/documents/Improved%20Access%20to%20HCBS%20SMD%20letter%20Fi\

nal%208-6-10.pdf

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