Policy Corner: May 5, 2023
Categories: Policy Corner Archives
Lawmakers Introduce Bills on Rights of Americans with Disabilities to Receive Long-Term Services
Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), led by sixteen Senators, recently introduced S. 1193, the Latonya Reeves Freedom Act, that would strengthen the civil rights of Americans with disabilities to receive long-term services and supports (LTSS) in the setting of their choice. Senator John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) is a cosponsor of the legislation. The bill is named after Latonya Reeves, who in 1991, fled a nursing home facility in Tennessee to move to Colorado so she could live independently, while still accessing the care she needed. It was her mission to help other individuals with disabilities to live independently within their own communities. Latonya passed away this year on January 9, 2023.
S. 1193 would strengthen the federally protected right of individuals with disabilities to receive LTSS and to be meaningfully integrated into their own community and would:
- Establish a comprehensive State planning requirement with enforceable and measurable objectives to transition individuals with disabilities out of institutions and into the most integrated setting, if they choose that transition;
- Prevent State governments and insurers from engaging in discriminatory practices, policies, or rules that would prevent an eligible individual from receiving community-based LTSS;
- Identify and address disparities in the provision of community-based LTSS; and
- Accelerate State compliance with the integration mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); and
- Prevent State governments and insurers from engaging in discriminatory practices, policies, or rules that would prevent an eligible individual from receiving community-based LTSS.
Other cosponsors are: Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
A similar bill was introduced in the House last month as well. H.R. 2708 is sponsored by Steve Cohen (D.Tenn,) along with 79 co-sponsors. The bill was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Coalition Announces Sponsors for Legislation to End Wait Time for SSDI Benefits
The “We Can’t Wait!” Coalition has announced that Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) will be the lead sponsor of legislation addressing the waiting period required to receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) after injury or illness. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) has announced that she will be the lead sponsor in the Senate. BIAA is a member of the coalition that is bringing attention to the hardship that the waiting period does to people who are out of work and depend on assistance for rent and food.
Currently, the waiting period cannot begin more than 17 months before the month in which the individual files an application for SSDI and meets the disability insured status requirements. An individual whose disability began on April 2, 2023, based on an application for SSDI benefits filed on May 2, 2023, if approved, would be subject to the 5-month waiting period beginning in May 2023 and ending in September 2023, with benefits beginning with October 2023 (that is, the first full month after completion of the waiting period). The wait time has been eliminated for individuals with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) who were approved for SSDI benefits on or after July 23, 2020, as the result of the ALS Disability Insurance Access Act of 2019 signed into law December 22, 2020.
BIAA Supports Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities within the NIH Scientific Community
The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA), a Steering Committee member of the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Coalition (DRRC), signed on to a letter to Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D. Acting Director National Institutes of Health (NIH), to commend the agency’s Advisory Committee to the Director Working Group on Diversity, Subgroup on Individuals with Disabilities for its recommendations to include individuals with disabilities within the scientific workforce. The DRRC and its members have long urged NIH and the entire Administration to fully recognize the need for greater inclusion of people with disabilities across the scientific workforce and to address disability as an integral part of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA). The coalition conveyed that it stands ready to support NIH in that endeavor, including facilitating connections throughout the disability community and engaging with policymakers and other stakeholders to ensure that the agency receives the resources needed to achieve true change.