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CKSN Update for June 1, 2004 |
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CKSN UPDATE for June 1, 2004 ABC for Health, Inc. IN THIS ISSUE: 1. Case Tip: AFDC – MA 2. Senator Feingold in Marquette and Green Lake Counties 3. Keeping Track of Medicaid Waivers 4. The Center for Personal Assistance Services 5. National Center for Accessible Public Transportation Established 6. Update from Western Regional CSHCN HealthWatch Group 7. HealthWatch Contacts 8. Contact Us! 9. Where Will You Be on October 14? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. CASE TIP: AFDC - MA AFDC ended in March of 1998 and was replaced with W-2. Federal law requires that states continue to provide Medicaid to people who would be eligible for AFDC if it were still in existence. In Wisconsin, these programs are called AFDC-MA and AFDC-Related MA. They provide Medicaid coverage to parents, “caretakers”, and children. AFDC-MA used to have complicated tests for underemployment, incapacitation, and absent parents. However, since August of 2003 (click on this link for the Medicaid operations memo) the principal qualifying factors are low income and the presence of a child. AFDC Medicaid has a very low income test. While BadgerCare income eligibility levels are at 185% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), AFDC income levels are nearly all below 50% of the FPL. Despite this, AFDC-MA enrollment in Wisconsin is higher and is rising faster than any other Family Medicaid Program. Enrollment Enrollment Program Dec 1999 April 2004 Increase Increase (Decrease) since January 2004 AFDC-MA 131,208 230,571 99,363 8,783 Healthy Start 88,021 134,540 46,519 3,000 BadgerCare 44,854 113,829 68,975 (882) AFDC-MA . . . o Is available for parents and for children. o Provides coverage even if the family has insurance that disqualifies it from getting BadgerCare. o Can cover families that drop insurance because of cost and must wait 3 months for BadgerCare. o Can cover families with modest incomes if one of the wage earners (or the wage earner) gets sick or is injured and must miss work. o Can cover families whose income drops dramatically due to a parent missing work to care for a child with special health care needs. o Can cover two-parent households with one parent absent due to military duty. The military parent remains ineligible, but the family can get coverage. o Has no asset test. Apply at your county office or use a mail-in form. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. SENATOR FEINGOLD IN MARQUETTE AND GREEN LAKE COUNTIES U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will hold Listening Sessions in Marquette and Green Lake Counties on Wednesday, May 26, 2004. Senator Feingold has pledged to hold Listening Sessions in all of Wisconsin's 72 counties each year of his six-year term. His Marquette County Listening Session will be held at 8:00 a.m. in the Meeting Room at the Packwaukee Town Hall, N3511 State Street, Packwaukee. His Green Lake County Listening Session will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the Berlin Public Library, 121 West Park Avenue, Berlin. Each session will last up to an hour. It allows you the opportunity to express your views to the Senator on federal issues such as IDEA, MiCASA, Family Opportunity Act, Rehabilitation Act, housing, health care, voting and campaign finance reform. For more information on federal issues, check the DAWN website on national disability issues at: http://www.dawninfo.org/advocacy/national.cfm More information about Sen. Feingold's listening sessions (in both English and Spanish) can be found on his web sites: English: http://feingold.senate.gov/listening/index.html Spanish: http://feingold.senate.gov/espanol/listening_map_sp.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. KEEPING TRACK OF MEDICAID WAIVERS The National Assoc. of State Medicaid Directors keeps track of waiver programs. This is a very informative website that contains all sorts of information, data, and statistics. It also contains data on children enrolled in MR/DD 1915c waivers by state, age and program. http://www.nasmd.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. THE CENTER FOR PERSONAL ASSISTANCE SERVICES The Center for Personal Assistance Services provides research, training, dissemination and technical assistance on issues of personal assistance services (PAS) in the United States. Personal assistance services (PAS) refer to help provided to people with disabilities to assist them with tasks essential for daily living. These tasks include bathing, dressing, getting around, toileting, eating, shopping, remembering things, and other activities. PAS, along with assistive technology such as wheelchairs, text readers, and hearing aides, help people with disabilities to participate in activities at home, at work, and in the community. http://www.pascenter.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. NATIONAL CENTER FOR ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ESTABLISHED A new research center on accessible public transportation has been established at Oregon State University through funding from the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The National Center for Accessible Public Transportation will explore improving access to inter-city modes of travel (air, rail, and bus) for people with mobility, agility, and hearing disabilities. Research to be conducted by the Center will focus on wheelchair transfer in confined spaces, such as aircraft aisles, and a survey-based study on existing and potential access solutions. This latter study will collect feedback from travelers with and without disabilities, airline and airport employees, bus and rail operators, and vehicle and aircraft manufacturers on access solutions. For further information, visit the Center's new Web site at http://ncat.oregonstate.edu or call (800) 916-0099. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. UPDATE FROM WESTERN REGIONAL CSHCH HEALTHWATCH GROUP The Western Regional Center held their HealthWatch meeting on May 11, 2004. At this meeting we celebrated our five year anniversary of HealthWatch. We took time at this meeting to thank everyone in the group for participating on the committee and also acknowledged the original committee members. With our lunch we also served a Anniversary cake that had our HealthWatch logo, a lighthouse, on it. Rick Pelishek, Rural Transportation Coordinator, WI. Coalition for Advocacy presented on transportation issues in rural areas. There were 21 people in attendance. The next HealthWatch meeting will be held on July 13th, 2004 at the Chippewa County Courthouse. Wynne Cook from the CSHCN Western Regional Center will present on the Children's Miracle Network program. For more information and to RSVP, please contact Rose Marsh at Chippewa County Public Health, 1-800-400-3678 ext. 2132 or e-mail rmarsh@co.chippewa.wi.us. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. HEALTHWATCH CONTACTS 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 or Brad Montgomery, 414.449.4777, opwindows@aol.com 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. SUGGESTIONS OR TIPS FOR THE UPDATE? CONTACT US! We need your help to develop content and tips for our CKSN Update. Please let us know about your ideas or success stories. Email your suggestions 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. WHERE WILL YOU BE ON OCTOBER 14? Save the date! ABC for Health will celebrate 10 years of advocacy and legal services on Thursday evening October 14, at the Great Hall of the Memorial Union in Madison Please join us to celebrate our 10th anniversary as Wisconsin’s premier public interest law firm dedicated to helping families secure adequate health care coverage and services! Watch for more information on this event in the near future. ABC for Health is a Wisconsin-based, nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to linking children and families, particularly those with special health care needs, to health care benefits and services. ABC for Health’s mission is to provide information, advocacy tools, legal services and expert support needed to obtain, maintain and finance health care coverage and services. Barbara Katz, moderator Parent Consultant ABC for Health, Inc. 608.261.6939 ext. 207 barbk@safetyweb.org