DEAF WORKERS OF ORANGE COUNTY PROJECT -- DEAF WORKERS WEEKLY BULLETIN -- June, 5 1998 Greetings, Last week I discovered a nasty proposal in congress and it is very important that we all pool our energies and help defeat this proposal to change the Social Security system. I have a haunch this wont last long on the congress floor because of the extremist nature of this proposal. We cannot punish the disabled for finding a way to survive on their benefits. You doctor has to rely in large part of what you tell him or her. Take this away, as this proposal would, and you reduce the Social Security disability process to something like veterinary medicine in which the patient can't tell you what's wrong with him or her. We all know that the Americans with Disabilities Act is so poorly enforced that is why 70% of the disability community remains unemployed by chance. This extremist proposal does not stand a chance at surviving in congress. Let's communicate with our legislators and help them defeat this right wing proposal. The next 2 newsletters will be small as I will be away from town starting Next Tuesday for a week. Richard Roehm ---- MEET RICHARD ROEHM ONLINE THIS SUNDAY JUNE 7, 1998 7PM EASTERN Here is your chance to meet the man behind the "Deaf@Activist.com" handle. The Irishman will be hosting this special meeting in their chatroom. I will make a small speech "Am I a Person?". As always, I look forward to meeting you online. 3 ways to get in: 1) Talkcity Server A) Use your IRC client and type "/server chat.talkcity.com" without quotes. B) Join the Irishman's chatroom by typing "/join #TheIrishmansChatroom" without quotes. For more information on IRC and resources, visit DeafWatch's own "Deaf 'Net Chat' Resources" page. (Http://home.hwsys.com/users/roehm/deafnc.htm) 2) Irishman's website A) Point your browser to : http://www.irishman2.com/chatroom.htm 3) WebTV users may use SUPERWEIRDCHAT (Java based) A) Point your browser to : http://members.tripod.com/~superweirdkid/index.html B) Make sure the server is chat.talkcity.com C) Click on the JOIN button D) Type "TheIrishmansChatroom" without quotes as the name of the chatroom SEE YOU THERE!!!!!!!!!! ---- SSI PROGRAM FOR ADULTS THREATENED! URGENT ACTION NEEDED! Justice For All mslife@tsbbs02.tnet.com Adult SSI Program Targeted Colleagues: The alert that follows from The Arc U.S. describes a serious affront to the SSI program. Once again, our advocacy is needed: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ACTION ALERT.....ACTION ALERT.....ACTION ALERT. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Arc's Governmental Affairs Office, 1730 K Street, N.W., Suite 1212, Washington, D.C. 20006 (202)785-3388 / FAX (202)467-4179 / TDD (202)785-3411 E-Mail arcga@radix.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Adult SSI Program Targeted SUMMARY: The Republican leadership in the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources is currently drafting proposals that would make drastic changes to the Supplementary Security Income (SSI) Program. A draft list of the proposals is dated April 21; a bill including these proposals is expected to be introduced in early June. Some of the provisions in this proposal would have devastating effects on people with mental retardation who depend on SSI as their sole means of support, including: * Applying a family cap by reducing the payment of 2 SSI recipients who live together by 25% and reducing the payment of 5 or more recipients in the same household by 40%; * Making it harder to become eligible by requiring individuals to meet the "two-marked" standard under the medical listings (similar to attempts to cut the children's SSI program under the new welfare law) and by requiring determinations to give more weight to medical (versus functional) evidence; and * Prohibiting asset transfers (including trusts) that facilitate SSI eligibility. Transfers made within 3 years of application to receive SSI benefits would be treated as a financial resource of the person making the transfer; and benefits would not be paid until the cumulative amount of benefits that would have been paid equaled the uncompensated value of the transferred asset. Attached are more details on some of the more onerous provisions of this proposal. We need to act now to prevent this proposal from going forward. ACTION NEEDED: 1. Forward this Alert immediately to local chapters of The Arc and the rest of your disability network. 2. Contact all your Members in the House of Representatives. Tell them that the proposals will harm people with mental retardation. Ask them to talk to their colleagues on the House Ways and Means Committee and urge them to oppose these proposals. DISTRIBUTION: All State Chapters of The Arc and Governmental Affairs email list-serve. STAFF CONTACT: Marty Ford (mfgarc@radix.net) SSI/SSDI REFORM PROPOSALS Major Concerns Regarding April 21, 1998 Draft* A draft list of potential legislative proposals, dated April 21, was provided by professional staff of the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources. Although no formal legislative language has been introduced, the draft list contains 31 proposals which could come forward in legislative action in coming weeks. Many would have serious impact on people with disabilities, including people with mental retardation. Some could be adjusted to address the concerns. Others are so potentially damaging that The Arc must oppose them in full. Below, several of the proposals with the most significant impact are described or quoted from the April 21 list along with a description of The Arc's concerns. 1. Require SSA to adjust the medical listings so all meet at least the 2 marked standard "required under the welfare reform law". This provision appears to apply to adults as well as children and would impose significant, fundamental change throughout the SSI and Title II (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) programs. The proposal is based on testimony by the General Accounting Office that several of the Social Security Administration's medical listings do not require a level of severity equal to "two marked" [an impairment(s) which results in marked limitations in two areas of functioning]. GAO cited the listings for mental retardation, epilepsy, asthma, and cerebral palsy. The result would be loss of eligibility for people with significant impairments, including people with mental retardation with IQs in the 60 to 70 range with another significant impairment (such as cerebral palsy at a level that does not equate to "marked"). There is simply no justification for this wholesale change in the long- standing use of SSA's listings. Even as applied only to children, we oppose the provision and note that we are on record along with several Senators regarding our interpretation that the Senate-drafted language which was adopted as the new statutory standard for children (in the welfare law changes of 1996) did not require this level of disability. If the standard is also applied to adults and if coupled with the following proposal on use of medical evidence, the adult SSI program will face significant cuts similar to those in the children's SSI program. 2. "Reduce subjectivity in eligibility determinations by requiring that determinations be based on medical evidence (defined as evidence provided by a doctor, psychiatrist or other medical professional not related to the applicant/beneficiary)." This provision would also represent a significant, fundamental change to the SSI and Title II programs. While the statute already requires that there be medical evidence of an impairment, many types of functional evidence are used to assist in determining eligibility. Alone, without medical evidence to support the diagnosis, such evidence is insufficient to establish disability. However, functional evidence is often essential to providing a full picture of the nature and limitations of the person's condition. For people with mental retardation, this evidence often comes from teachers or other service providers who are not considered medical sources. Failure to consider this evidence would deprive people with disabilities, both children and adults, of the full and fair evaluations they are entitled to receive. This provision is also seen as one of the first steps in cutting back the adult SSI program in a way similar to the Human Resources Subcommittee efforts to cut back on eligibility for children. 3. Ending the SSI marriage penalty./(Household Cap) The proposal would apply the "couples" limitation (150 percent of an individual's benefit) on benefits to any two unmarried adults living together. Although it described as eliminating the "marriage penalty", the real way to eliminate the marriage penalty in SSI is to increase the couple's benefit to the level of two individual SSI benefits, not to create fictions about relationships among others in order to reduce their benefits. If two women with disabilities are able to afford the rent of an apartment by sharing the apartment, they should not each have their SSI reduced simply because they have figured out a way to survive on their limited incomes. Applying this proposed provision beyond two adults, to homes where multiple SSI recipients live together, will have a very devastating effect on group homes serving people with disabilities, many of whom receive SSI and contribute all but a very small portion of their monthly benefits to the household expenses. If this provision becomes law, the number of such homes and the quality of care they are able to provide will significantly decrease. 4. Replace the current SSI 10 percent rule with a series of rules. This provision would lift the current 10 percent limit on recovery of overpayments which protects SSI recipients from having too large a portion of their monthly check held back by SSA to pay back overpayments. This provision as simply too harsh, particularly when the vast majority of overpayments are created by SSA's failure to properly input information reported by recipients into the computer. SSI recipients (and people who receive both SSI and Title II benefits) are living on virtually nothing -- a 10 percent reduction is already a tremendous hardship. 5. Prohibit asset transfers that facilitate SSI eligibility following some of the provisions in Medicaid law regarding asset transfers and treatment of trusts. Congress eliminated the SSI transfer of asset penalty in 1988, recognizing that people generally transferred assets to establish Medicaid eligibility, not SSI eligibility, and that the requirement just created an administrative nightmare for elderly and disabled recipients as well as SSA. People who are applying for SSI are not in the same financial league with those who were hiring attorneys and financial planners to assist them in becoming Medicaid eligible. By the time they apply for SSI, they are by definition very poor. Penalties in the early 1980s fell very hard on many elderly people who had transferred modest assets to children or other relatives and who were unable to sustain themselves during the penalty period. At a minimum, the ban on benefits should be limited to no more than the old two-year statutory bar. However, since this bar could be life-threatening for many people who are elderly or disabled, SSA must have authority for waiver of the bar. Further, if assets incur a penalty period in both SSI and Medicaid, there must be coordination of the penalty periods to prevent the same amount of funds from being "double-counted" as if the person could have covered his/her own SSI and Medicaid expenses with the same finite amount of money. Further, in Sections 1917(c) and (d) of the Social Security Act, there are certain exceptions to the Medicaid transfer of asset provisions that allow people to transfer assets to, or for the benefit of, people with disabilities without incurring the transfer of asset penalties. There are also provisions that allow people with disabilities under age 65 to transfer assets into irrevocable trusts for their own benefit (under certain conditions and generally to provide services and goods unavailable through SSI and Medicaid) which also exempt them from the transfer of asset penalties. If the proposal is adopted, it is essential that the full and complete Medicaid exceptions to the prohibitions on transfers of assets also be included. Kim Musheno Chapter Relations and Communications Specialist The Arc Governmental Affairs Office email: kimarc@radix.net The May 5 issue of Government Report is now on-line: http://TheArc.org/ga/newgr.html -- Mark Smith mslife@tsbbs02.tnet.com -- Fred Fay jfa@mailbot.com Justice For All Moderator http://www.mailbot.com/justice ---- THE ADA NETWORK NEEDS YOU Don’t miss another opportunity to get involved with ADA implementation activities in your state. DBTAC Network Administrators are located in every state served by the SE DBTAC. Point your web browser to http://www.sedbtac.org and click on your state. Then find your DBTAC representative; send an e-mail requesting information about joining the ADA network. ---- ADA RESOURCES Accommodating Employees with Psychiatric Disabilities: A Practical Guide to ADA Compliance Produced by Thompson Publishing Group, this publication includes information about handling accommodation requests and possible accommodations for people with psychiatric disabilities. Copies may be ordered from Thompson Publishing Group, Inc. 1725 K St., NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20006 800-677-3789 http://www.thompson.com/ ---- Current job list on the Jobs for Deaf page. Santa Ana, California (2-15-98) Carson City, Nevada (2-23-98) Framingham, Massachusetts (3-2-98) Nationwide USA (3-22-98) Santa Fe, New Mexico (4-9-98) ---------------------- Letters! I am for honorable shaw of florida, because i have noticed that they are abled bodies and need to work regardless of hardship. i will write to us congress and president concern this matter. i am not soft on deaf with ssi, they can work. i believe they can keep ssi for awhile until they get work, then cut it off. thank you MROSOII@webtv.net ============================================================== DEAF WORKERS OF ORANGE COUNTY Orange County, California Richard Roehm President Internet : Deaf@activist.com Deaf_Workers_OC@usa.net Website Nesmuth@bbs.hwsys.com Http://home.hwsys.com/users/roehm/dwoc.htm =============================================================== Circulation Information Direct Email subscribers : 31 Indirect Email Subscribers : 36 Feel free to redistribute this newsletter in it's entirety and if you are planning to add a mailing list as a subscriber then let me know for my records. 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