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CKSN Update for August 1, 2003 |
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CKSN Update for August 1, 2003 ABC for Health, Inc. IN THIS ISSUE: 1. Case Tip: Possible Effects of SSI on Badgercare Eligibility 2. Case Tip: Emergency Medicaid and Out of State Travel 3. Healthy and Ready to Work Transition Listserv Available 4. Seeking Stories from Youth 5. Senator Feingold Holds Listening Sessions 6. HealthWatch Updates 1. CASE TIP: POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF SSI ON BADGERCARE ELIGIBILITY A family on BadgerCare should consider the following situation when applying for SSI for an adult or child with a disability. When a person is receiving SSI, they are removed from the family group when eligibility is calculated for BadgerCare for the other family members. In addition, their SSI income is also removed. Therefore, the family size is one less and the BadgerCare income eligibility limits are based on the lesser family size. This can potentially cause the remaining family members to be ineligible for BadgerCare, as the change in family size will lower their income limit The disabled member could choose to not receive SSI so the family size and income remains the same. However, there are a few things to consider. First, the person with a disability who has SSI would receive the less restrictive fee-for-service Medicaid that permits access to any provider that accepts Medicaid. On the other hand, if the person with a disability receives Medicaid through BadgerCare, that person and the family will most likely be required to select a Medicaid HMO, which will monitor and control the providers available to the family and to the person with a disability for health care needs. Second, if the family member who is disabled chooses to discontinue SSI, the money that person would have received through SSI could be counted as family income, since this income was available but the family chose not to accept it. However, there would be no three-month wait for the person with disabilities to receive BadgerCare. The family should call their economic support worker at the county department of human services and discuss the effect SSI eligibility would have on the entire family's Badgercare eligibility. 2. CASE TIP: EMERGENCY MEDICAID AND OUT OF STATE TRAVEL If you travel outside of Wisconsin with your child with special health care needs and need emergency Medicaid services, health care providers can treat you and send claims to Wisconsin Medicaid. Sometimes, out of state providers insist that you immediately pay for the service yourself, and then submit a claim when you return to Wisconsin. You have the right to insist that the provider bill Wisconsin Medicaid rather than pay for the claim yourself. If you do pay for the out of state service you have the right to appeal if Wisconsin Medicaid does not reimburse you. 3. Healthy and Ready to Work Transition Listserv Available Are you interested in transition resources for youth with special health care needs in Wisconsin? If you are, you may want to join the new Wisconsin Transition Listserv. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Healthy and Ready to Work Project at the Southern Regional Center for Children with Special Health Care Needs, this listserv offers opportunities for participants to share information on materials, training opportunities, websites and other resources related to transition. Youth, parents, family members, providers and interested community members are all welcome to join. To join this new listserv, simply send an email to Deb Wisniewski at wisniewski@waisman.wisc.edu and indicate that you wish to join the Wisconsin Transition Listserv. Questions? You may email Deb at the same address or call her at 1-800-532-3321 or 608-265-4461. 4. SEEKING STORIES FROM YOUTH The Youth Advisory Council of the National Council on Disability is a group of young adults with disabilities who advise the National Council about issues faced by children, adolescents and young adults with disabilities. Between now and October 30, 2003, the Youth Advisory Council is collecting information from people with disabilities about their experiences with higher education. This includes financial challenges, barriers, and successes. This advisory group will use the information and stories to improve secondary education support services for students with disabilities. Young adults are encouraged to please share their stories with the Youth Advisory Council. You can just write their story and share it. If you need help organizing their story, would like more information, or would like a format to follow, the website, How do students with disabilities pay for college? (www.ncd.gov/newsroom/advisory/youth/yac_inquiry.html) has excellent questions to get you started. This contact information is listed on the website as well. Send stories via e-mail to: cgordon@ncd.gov or Fax: Youth Advisory Council at 202-272-2022, or mail: Youth Advisory Council, National Council on Disability, 1331 F St. NW, Suite 850, Washington, DC 20004 5. SENATOR FEINGOLD HOLDS LISTENING SESSIONS U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will hold Listening Sessions in Price, Taylor, Sawyer, Washburn, Burnett, Polk, Barron and Rusk Counties from August 6 through 11, 2003. These are part of a series of sessions that will be held throughout the state during the year. The Price County session will be held on Wednesday, August 6, 2003 at 12:30 p.m. at the Prentice Village Hall, 605 Spruce Street, Prentice. The Taylor County session will be held on Wednesday, August 6, 2003 at 3:30 p.m. in the Main Hall at the Jump River Community Center, W14751 River Street, one block south of Hwy 73 by Community Park in Jump River. The Sawyer County session will be held on Wednesday, August 6, 2003 at 6:15 p.m. in the Auditorium at Winter High School, 6585 West Grove Street, Winter. The Washburn County session will be held on Thursday, August 7, 2003 at 7:15 a.m. at the Minong Senior Center, 700 B Street, Minong. The Burnett County session will be held on Thursday, August 7, 2003 at 9:30 a.m. in the Fitness Room at the St. Croix Tribal Health Clinic, 4404 State Road 70, Hertel. The Polk County session will be held on Sunday, August 10, 2003 at 3:45 p.m. at the Osceola Village Hall, 310 Chieftain Street, Osceola. The Barron County session will be held on Sunday, August 10, 2003 at 6:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Theater at the University of Wisconsin-Barron County, 1800 College Drive, Rice Lake. The Rusk County session will be held on Monday, August 11, 2003 at 7:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers at the Ladysmith City Hall, 107 East 2nd Street South, Ladysmith. Each session will last approximately one hour. These sessions allow you the opportunity to express your views to the Senator on federal issues such as IDEA, Family Opportunity Act, Rehabilitation Act, housing, health care, voting and campaign finance reform. For more information on federal issues, check the new and improved DAWN website on national disability issues at: http://www.dawninfo.org/advocacy/national.cfm 6. HEALTHWATCH UPDATES You are invited to attend these upcoming HealthWatch meetings... Northern Region: Tuesday, August 12, 10:00 am, at Indian Springs in Carter. John Shaw of Disability Advocates: Wisconsin Network (DAWN) will talk about advocacy at the individual and policy levels. Northeastern Region: Wednesday, August 13 in Green Bay. If you are interested in joining your regional HealthWatch committee, or want more information about their work, please contact the following people: Southern Region: Barbara Katz, ABC for Health, Inc., 608.261.6939 ext 207, barbk@safetyweb.org Southeastern Region: Brad Holman, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, 414.266.3189, bholman@chw.org Northern Region: Deb Blackstone, Family Resource Connection, 715.365.8030, dblacks@shsmh.org Northeastern Region: Steve Gerczak, St. Vincent Hospital, 920.433.8154, sgerczak@stvgb.org Western Region: Rose Marsh, Chippewa County Dept of Public Health, 1-800-400-3678, rmarsh@co.chippewa.wi.us ARE YOU SHARING THE UPDATES WITH FRIENDS OR COLLEAGUES? We need your help to better track the distribution of the CKSN update. Please let us know the names and email contact info of people you forward the email to so we can send them the update directly. Direct replies to barbk@safetyweb.org The CKSN Update is a bi-weekly electronic newsletter of the Covering Kids with Special Needs project that ABC for Health, Inc. is implementing with its partners, the Title V Children with Special Needs Regional Centers and Family Voices - Wisconsin. If you would like to submit news and information in future CKSN Updates, please send it to the attention of Barbara Katz. All submissions should be limited to 150 words. Barbara Katz, moderator Parent Consultant ABC for Health, Inc. 608.261.6939 ext. 207 barbk@safetyweb.org