***************************************************************************
Plan to Join Us!! VOR 2007 Annual Meeting and Washington Initiative. See -
http://www.vor.net/VORAnnualMeeting2007.htm for complete details, including
a registration form.
**************************************************************************
VOR is the only national organization advocating for a full range of
residential and support options for people with mental retardation,
including Medicaid-certified Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally
Retarded (ICFs/MR) and home and community-based care. VOR supports choice.
***************************************************************************
-----------------------------------------
VOR Weekly E-Mail Update
March 16, 2007
-----------------------------------------
======================================================
1. ATTENDANCE and SPONSORSHIPS - The keys to a successful VOR Annual
Meeting and Washington Initiative
2. States and U.S. at Odds on Aid for Uninsured
======================================================
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. ATTENDANCE and SPONSORSHIPS - The keys to a successful VOR Annual
Meeting and Washington Initiative
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ATTENDANCE: Have you made your plans yet to attend the 2007 VOR Annual
Meeting and Washington Initiative? We are heartened by the response so far
- from many veterans of this event, eager to make a return trip, and from
some new participants. We really want to meet and exceed last year's record
setting attendance. Can you come. It is an experience like none other.
Throughout the event, which begins with a Friday Night State Report Forum
(June 8) followed by the Saturday Annual Meeting (June 9), and the
Washington Initiative (beginning June 10), you will have the opportunity to
network with advocates just like you from across the country. Last year
nearly 30 states were represented! These are moms and dads, sisters and
brothers, cousins, and others all concerned for the well-being of our
nation's population with mental retardation - and all supporting CHOICE.
You'll hear from great speakers at the Annual Meeting, and at the
Washington Initiative Legislative Briefing, you'll get the information and
tools with which to spread our message of choice to Members of Congress and
their staff. The information and skills you glean from this meeting will
also render you an even more effective advocate back in your states.
Please join us - you can get all the information you need at
http://www.vor.net - just follow the links on the home page.
SPONSORSHIPS: Financial sponsorships are critical to helping defray the
cost of this premier annual event. Past sponsors have included
corporations, family organizations and individuals. Perhaps your employer
would like to help sponsor the Annual Meeting, or your facility family
association, or a local business in your area. You can visit
http://www.vor.net, for sponsorship opportunities and details.
Another great way you could help is to secure a SPONSORSHIP for someone to
ATTEND, which brings the two most critical ingredients for a successful
meeting together. Every year, Family Organizations fund many of our
attendees. In other cases, individual donors have enjoyed the opportunity
to help someone else make the trip.
Any help you can provide by ATTENDING, securing a SPONSORSHIP for someone
to attend, or securing a SPONSORSHIP for other costs associated with the
meeting, is greatly appreciated.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP! Contact Tamie at Tamie327@hotmail.com, or visit
http://www.vor.net, for details.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2. States and U.S. at Odds on Aid for Uninsured
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary: The follow article details the divide between the federal and
state governments regarding the approaches to reducing the number of people
who are without health care. In related news, Congress is presently working
on its Budget Resolution; the Senate recently released its proposal. More
news will follow, including VOR's reaction, in upcoming editions of the
Weekly Update.
By Robert Pear and Raymond Hernandez
Feb. 12, 2007
New York Times
In the absence of federal action, governors and state legislators around
the country are transforming the nation's health care system, putting
affordable health insurance within reach of millions of Americans in hopes
of reversing the steady rise in the number of uninsured, now close to 47
million.
But the states appear to be on a collision course with the Bush
administration, whose latest budget proposals create a huge potential
obstacle to their efforts to expand coverage. While offering to work with
states by waiving requirements of federal law, the Bush administration has
balked at state initiatives that increase costs to the federal government.
State efforts have almost invariably begun with children, building on the
Children's Health Insurance Program, which is jointly financed by the
federal and state governments. Many states are eager to expand eligibility
for that program, and some are going far beyond the income levels deemed
appropriate by the White House. In his budget last week, President Bush
said he wanted to return the program to its "original objective" of
covering children with family incomes less than twice the poverty level.
Sixteen states already cover children in families with incomes above 200
percent of the poverty level, and some want to go higher, even as the
president seeks to reduce federal payments for children in families with
higher incomes. And, the movement to expand coverage is by no means limited
to children any more.
The National Conference of State Legislatures has reported: "Health care
reform was hot in legislatures across the nation in 2006, and the forecast
for this session may be even hotter. Fueled by the increasing number of
uninsured Americans, the declining number of employers offering insurance
to their employees, the improved fiscal conditions in the states and the
lack of federal action, states are leading the way in health care reform."
Officials cite a groundswell of state activity:
Arkansas, Kentucky, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Tennessee have new
laws and programs to reduce the cost of insurance for small employers.
Massachusetts and Vermont passed laws in 2006 to achieve universal or
nearly universal coverage, while addressing the cost and quality of care.
Several states, including Colorado and Delaware, are requiring insurers to
cover young adults, the fastest-growing segment of the uninsured
population.
"We have a goal that all Minnesotans should be covered by health
insurance," Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, said in an address to the
State Legislature last month.
In New York State, the Children's Health Insurance Program covers 385,000
children, of whom 55,000 have family incomes above 200 percent of the
poverty level. Another 50,000 children would be eligible under Governor
Spitzer's proposal to increase the income ceiling.
The federal government now pays 65 percent of the cost of coverage for each
child in New York's program, or $1,154 a year out of a cost of $1,776.
Judith Arnold, the program's director, said Monday that under the
president's proposal, the federal contribution would be reduced by $266 a
child. So, she said, New York would lose $14.6 million a year.
Knowing they cannot count on a major infusion of federal money, some states
are looking to their own revenue sources, including tobacco taxes, pools of
money set aside for charity care and uncompensated care, and assessments
levied on employers who do not provide health benefits to their workers.
State efforts face several potential pitfalls. The cost of coverage could
spin out of control. An economic downturn could reduce states' fiscal
capacity. Moreover, a federal law, the Employee Retirement Income Security
Act of 1974, could block any state program that requires employers to alter
their health plans.
In Washington, health policy debates highlight the ideological divide
between Republicans and Democrats over the proper role of government in
helping the uninsured. Governors and state legislators tend to be more
pragmatic.
"There is such a political divide in Washington that many people believe
that the only reasonable chance to succeed is at the state level," said
Jeffrey S. Crowley, a senior research scholar at the Health Policy
Institute of Georgetown University.
Soaring health costs are placing pressures on employers and employees
alike. In recent weeks, companies like Wal-Mart have joined labor unions
and consumer groups in coalitions espousing universal coverage.
In his State of the Union address on Jan. 23, Mr. Bush proposed a new tax
deduction to help people buy health insurance outside the workplace, and he
said he wanted to help "states that are coming up with innovative ways to
cover the uninsured."
In his budget, Mr. Bush said the way to transform the health care system
was by "subsidizing the purchase of private insurance," not by expanding
public programs in a way that would increase costs to the federal
government.
To slow the growth of Medicare and Medicaid, Mr. Bush asked Congress to
squeeze tens of billions of dollars from the programs.
Mr. Bush's efforts, combined with the flurry of state activity, have forced
Congress to face fundamental questions about the Children's Health
Insurance Program: If states run out of money, should the federal
government bail them out? Should states be allowed to use the money to
cover adults?
More than a dozen states expect to exhaust their allotments of federal
money in the next few months, raising the possibility that children will be
removed from the rolls. Georgia and New Jersey, for example, said they
would run out of money by May.
White House officials said that some states had strayed from the purpose of
the program in another way, by covering adults. Mr. Bush wants to prohibit
states from adding childless adults to the rolls. And he would restrict
eligibility for parents.
Jason A. Helgerson, policy director for the Wisconsin Department of Health
and Family Services, said, "There is strong empirical evidence that when
you cover adults and children, you get more kids covered." In Wisconsin,
the Children's Health Insurance Program covers 36,900 parents and 29,800
children, Mr. Helgerson said.
Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, asked: "What is going on here?
When we created the program, its purpose was to provide coverage for
low-income children."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tamie Hopp
REFERRAL/MEMBERSHIP/CONTRIBUTION FORM
THREE EASY WAYS TO SUPPORT VOR > REFER, CONTRIBUTE OR JOIN
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
TO JOIN OR CONTRIBUTE: $25 per individual, $150 per family organization, or
$200 per provider/professional organization. Extra donations are welcome!
You may pay by credit card or check.
TO REFER SOMEONE TO VOR: Use the form below, including the additional
sections for referrals.
Mail the completed form (if joining or contributing) with payment to:
Voice of the Retarded
5005 Newport Drive, Suite 108
Rolling Meadows, IL 60008
847-253-6054 fax (for referrals or credit card payments)
vor@compuserve.com (for referrals or credit card payments)
FOR REFERRALS: ____ The contact information provided is for someone I
think would consider membership with VOR.
FOR REFERRALS: _____ You may use my name in any correspondence with this
individual. My name is ________________________.
____________________________________________
Name
_____________________________________________
Address (if paying by credit card, use billing address). All forms must
include complete address including zip code)
_____________________________________________
City St Zip
_____________________________________________
Phone Fax
_____________________________________________
E-Mail
_________________________________________________
Family/Professional Organization Affiliation (if applicable)
VOR now accepts Master Card and Visa. If paying by credit card, please
provide the following information:
Amount to charge to card:
___$1,000 ___$500 ___$250 ___$150 ___$50 ___$25 $_____ Other amount
_____ Master Card
_____ Visa
Card Number: ___________________________________
Expiration Date: __________________________________
Cardholder's Signature: ___________________________
