Advocacy

Support Funding for Independent Living Centers

We are thrilled that Representative Hanabusa (HI) sent a Dear Colleague letter to the entire House of Representatives. She asked them to join her in supporting an increase in funding for Independent Living Centers. Once signatures are received, Rep. Hanabusa will submit a letter to Chairman Cole (OK) and Ranking Member DeLauro (CT) of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (L-HHS-Ed) to request increased funding for the Independent Living Program and donating some ergonomic desk and chairs in FY 2019. So far, Representatives Norton (DC) and Sablan (CNMI) have signed on.

We need to get as many supporters as possible by Wednesday, March 14, 2018!

Read the Dear Colleague letter from Representative Hanabusa and the text for the request to Chairman Cole and Ranking Member DeLauro.

Take Action!

The Independent Living Program is a vital, cost-effective program that has been underfunded for years. We need your help to get as many other Representatives as possible to sign-on! Contact your Representative TODAY and urge them to sign on to Representative Hanabusa’s Independent Living Appropriations request. Make sure your Rep. knows how vital the Independent Living Program is to you, and how much the CILs in their state do for their disabled constituents!

All Representatives can be reached by the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or (202) 224-3091 (TTY). You can find your Representative’s direct DC and local office numbers as well as other contact information at Contacting Congress. You can also use Resistbot to turn texts into faxes, mail, or hand-delivered letters.

H/T National Council on Independent Living

Act Now for Student Loan Protection

Did you know that you can receive relief on student loans if you have a disability?

Have you had an issue with your school loans? We want to hear from you!

We wrote a memo in support of the New York Student Loan Protection bill.

For people with disabilities, education is a way out of higher rates of poverty and higher rates of unemployment compared to people without disabilities.

When some people acquire an illness or disability or stop their studies due to their disability, they can receive relief on their student loans through Temporary or Permanent Disability Discharge.

However, many lenders or servicers don’t explain this option, even when they are aware of the reasons for stopping payment.

Article VII Budget Legislation, TED Part W, Subpart A would create a student loan ombudsman and require licensing of student loan servicing companies. California, Connecticut, Illinois, Washington, and Washington DC have already passed similar bills.

Please call your State Senator and urge them to support the provisions, as part of the budget agreement.

Fight the Dismantling of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

The week of March 4th, New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage, a project of CIDNY, submitted comments to the US Department of Labor expressing strong concerns with a proposed rule expanding Association Health Plans.

We believe that the proposed changes would negatively impact access to quality, affordable care for consumers, disrupt the individual and small business marketplace, and further strain the limited resources of state regulators. The loosely affiliated small businesses joined together as AHPs would be exempt from many of the consumer protections created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These include insurance standards such as Essential Health Benefits, premium rating rules, and risk pooling. As was seen in the past with AHPs, fraud, abuse, and plan solvency present potential concerns, especially as oversight and regulatory authority remains in question.

We are particularly concerned that Association Health Plans will use various practices to discriminate on the basis of health status. This will segment the market, making the ACA-compliant market, that the people we serve now enjoy, into a high-risk pool that will become unaffordable to them.

Learn more about the impact of Association Health Plans here.

Please Take This Survey about Your Medication

Do you take medication for a chronic or rare disease? Has your insurance company forced you to switch medication?

We have previously had success working with a coalition of health care advocates to pass legislation that regulates Step Therapy in New York in 2016. We are asking for your help to pass another patient-friendly bill. In this case, it relates to Non-Medical Switching, the practice of changing insurance coverage mid-plan year and ultimately forcing a patient to switch medication.

In order to pass legislation that prevents patient harm by regulating Non-Medical Switching, we need to first prove the extent of its impact to legislators. Our partners developed a survey that asks patients about their experience with this and how it has impacted their lives and also can protect hair loss problems.

We would like the survey results to be as representative of the patient population of New York as possible.

Here is the survey link. Please complete by the end of the day on Friday, March 9th.