National Council on Disability

NCD, colleagues remember Andrés Gallegos

Retrieved on: 
Monday, December 4, 2023
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Council on Disability (NCD) has lost its Chairman Andrés J. Gallegos, 62, of Illinois, who passed away Dec. 1.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, Dec. 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Council on Disability (NCD) has lost its Chairman Andrés J. Gallegos, 62, of Illinois, who passed away Dec. 1.
  • On January 20, 2021, President Biden designated Gallegos Chairman of NCD shortly after being inaugurated President of the United States.
  • Since Gallegos was appointed to the Council in 2018, NCD released 31 reports and papers--15 while chair--making systemic recommendations to improve national disability policy.
  • Chicagoan Andrés Gallegos devoted his life to inclusion, health equity and accessibility.

ARC ANGEL COMMUNICATIONS ANNOUNCES ITS CERTIFICATION AS A DISABILITY OWNED BUSINESS ENTERPRISE

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
National Council, National Council on Disability, MCB, Massachusetts Office of Technical Assistance, Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, Limited liability company, Supplier, Supplier diversity, NCD, Certification, Organization, ABLE, Commissioner, Growth, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, DOBES, MOD, Government, Commercial and Government Entity code, Council, Insurance, Disability

MELROSE, Mass., Nov. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Arc Angel Communications is pleased to announce it is now a certified disability-owned business enterprise, as part of Disability:IN's Supplier Diversity program.

Key Points: 
  • Arc Angel Communications provides Public Relations and disability consulting services for corporations, government agencies, and institutional organizations.
  • Arc Angel Communications is a duly established Limited Liability Corporation and its corporate headquarters are located just outside of Boston in Melrose.
  • A disability-owned business enterprise is a for profit business that is at least 51% owned, managed and controlled by a person with a disability.
  • "Having the opportunity to now serve the business community with disability inclusion services is a great opportunity and obtaining this DOBE certification from Disability:IN demonstrates to organizations that Arc Angel Communications is ready, willing, and ABLE to work with them," said David D'Arcangelo President & CEO of Arc Angel Communications.

Federal report examines, urges updates of federal programs’ asset and income limits to assist economic health of Americans with disabilities

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
National Council, National Council on Disability, Affordable Care Act, ACA, Public policy, Supplement, Health, Disability discrimination act, AJC Transatlantic Institute, Medicare, Congress, MBI, Legislation, Disability, NCD, Workforce, Impact, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Social, ABLE, SSI, DOL, ADA, Sidemen (YouTube group), Employment, Confusion, Poverty, Retirement, AT, CIE, Social Security Administration, SSA, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMS, Insurance, Health insurance, Rare-earth element, Ridesharing, Life insurance, Medicaid

The 2023 report, Toward Economic Security: The Impact of Income and Asset Limits on People with Disabilities comprehensively examines the impact of asset limits in government-sponsored social safety net programs – some of which haven’t been updated in over 30 years -- on the economic self-sufficiency and financial independence of people with disabilities. Asset limits can prevent lower-income people from building savings and exercising financial autonomy without risking loss of access to necessary public assistance programs.

Key Points: 
  • Asset limits can prevent lower-income people from building savings and exercising financial autonomy without risking loss of access to necessary public assistance programs.
  • “Federal disability policies should be about helping people live independently, get to work, and get out of poverty.
  • The current asset and income limits ensure the opposite.”
    The report examines the implications of asset limits in four areas of public policy – health care, cash benefits provided through Supplemental Security Income (SSI), employment, and asset building and wealth protection.
  • “Current asset and income limits put goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act at odds with each other – independent living at the cost of economic self-sufficiency,” said NCD Chairman Andrés Gallegos.

Alliance for Aging Research on First 10 Part D Drugs Subject to Medicare Price-Setting: Today is Not a Reason to Celebrate

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This morning, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the first 10 Part D drugs to be subject to Medicare price-setting .

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This morning, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the first 10 Part D drugs to be subject to Medicare price-setting .
  • Sue Peschin, MHS, President and CEO at the Alliance for Aging Research, issued the following statement in response:
    The process instead captures drugs that serve large numbers of beneficiaries at modest cost rather than high-cost drugs.
  • "Staging a celebration to announce the first 10 Part D drugs subject to CMS' government price-setting in the Medicare program is macabre and misleading.
  • We have opposed every Medicare price-setting proposal since 2019 because their value frameworks combine analyses of both cost-effectiveness and budget impact.

Federal report finds extreme weather substantially and disproportionately impacts people with disabilities

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, May 4, 2023
Federal Emergency Management Agency, State, Medicaid, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Employment, Housing, Disability, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2014, Human services, Extreme weather, Policy, Health, Fatality, Data collection, Physical medicine and rehabilitation, Government, National Council on Disability, NCD, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Administration, Congress, Disaster, National Council, Risk, Homeland security, Council, Institutionalisation, Rehabilitation Services Administration, Weather, Intellectual disability, Safety, United States Department of Health and Human Services, Insurance, Justice, Labour, Education

The Impacts of Extreme Weather Events on People with Disabilities examines how extreme weather events and environmental hazards have adversely and disproportionately impacted people with disabilities in the United States and its territories over the past 20 years.

Key Points: 
  • The Impacts of Extreme Weather Events on People with Disabilities examines how extreme weather events and environmental hazards have adversely and disproportionately impacted people with disabilities in the United States and its territories over the past 20 years.
  • "'Weathering the storm' is more than an idiomatic expression given the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events," said NCD Chairman Andrés J. Gallegos.
  • "Rights and responsibilities under federal disability laws do not disappear due to extreme weather catastrophe," said Gallegos.
  • NCD found that during an emergency or major disaster, people  with physical, sensory, mental, or cognitive disabilities are disproportionately affected.

900 Oral health care provider viewpoints inform latest NCD recommendations on Medicaid, Medicare

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Learning, Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, Xestia castanea, Dental care, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Disability, Human services, Policy, Ageing, Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Program, American Academy, OHC, Disability studies, National Council on Disability, NCD, Intellectual, Congress, Student, Data, National Council, Council, Patient, Health, Dentistry, Health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare

Incentivizing Oral Health Care Providers to Treat Patients with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities provides additional insights into sources and solutions regarding the difficulties of adults with I/DD in accessing quality, appropriate, and timely oral health care (OHC) services.

Key Points: 
  • Incentivizing Oral Health Care Providers to Treat Patients with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities provides additional insights into sources and solutions regarding the difficulties of adults with I/DD in accessing quality, appropriate, and timely oral health care (OHC) services.
  • Last year, NCD published Medicaid Oral Health Coverage for Adults with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities – A Fiscal Analysis , providing the initial results of its analysis into how to improve oral health outcomes for people with I/DD.
  • Medicare and Medicaid programs do not support dental care for adults with I/DD.
  • Dental and medical systems of health care do not support integrated health care models for people with I/DD.

NCD assesses, advises on impact of Supreme Court Cummings decision

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, January 19, 2023
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Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller PLLC: Implications and Avenues for Reform examines the U.S. Supreme Court decision of April 28, 2022.

Key Points: 
  • Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller PLLC: Implications and Avenues for Reform examines the U.S. Supreme Court decision of April 28, 2022.
  • "With the Cummings decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has rolled back the clock 50 years to an era when it was permissible to subject the ‘handicapped’ to separate and unequal treatment without repercussion," said NCD Chairman Andrés Gallegos.
  • The policy brief concludes by recommending a legislative fix to the Supreme Court decision.
  • NCD is an independent, nonpartisan federal agency that advises the President, Congress and other federal agencies on disability policy.

NCD examines alternatives to popular prescription drug cost-effectiveness method that can discriminate

Retrieved on: 
Monday, November 28, 2022
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today the National Council on Disability releases a policy brief that examines alternatives to a popular prescription drug cost-effectiveness methodology that has the potential to discriminate against people with disabilities.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today the National Council on Disability releases a policy brief that examines alternatives to a popular prescription drug cost-effectiveness methodology that has the potential to discriminate against people with disabilities.
  • Alternatives to QALY-Based Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Determining the Value of Prescription Drugs and Other Health Interventions supplements NCDs 2019 report, Quality Adjusted Life Years and the Devaluation of Life with a Disability .
  • With this brief, we have explored alternatives to a methodology that often does.
  • NCD is an independent, bipartisan federal agency that advises the President, Congress and other federal agencies on disability policy.

NCD urges HCBS strengthening, calls for ‘Community Living Bias’ in view of COVID-19 death toll

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
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Currently, 820,000 people with disabilities remain on wait lists to transfer out of institutional settings.

Key Points: 
  • Currently, 820,000 people with disabilities remain on wait lists to transfer out of institutional settings.
  • In many instances, social distancing wasnt achievable and the inability to transition out of such a setting became a death trap.
  • Severe shortages of direct care workers and available affordable, accessible housing are just two examples are longstanding fragilities in the HCBS ecosystem, said the Chairman.
  • NCD is an independent, bipartisan federal agency that advises the President, Congress and other federal agencies on disability policy.

IntellectAbility and NPACE Partner to Bring Vital IDD Healthcare Education to Clinicians to Reduce Health Disparities for People With IDD

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 24, 2022
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CLEARWATER, Fla., Oct. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- According to the National Council on Disability Health Equity Framework for People with Disabilities,¹ people with IDD face significant, preventable health disparities. In a call to action to improve the healthcare provided to people with IDD, the framework recommends comprehensive disability clinical-care curricula be required for nursing and healthcare professionals. The goal is to empower healthcare professionals to better understand the healthcare needs of people with IDD. To respond to this need, IntellectAbility and NPACE are partnering to give healthcare providers practical and immediately usable clinical knowledge to improve healthcare for people with IDD, using the online Curriculum in IDD Healthcare (CIDDH).

Key Points: 
  • The goal is to empower healthcare professionals to better understand the healthcare needs of people with IDD.
  • To respond to this need, IntellectAbility and NPACE are partnering to give healthcare providers practical and immediately usable clinical knowledge to improve healthcare for people with IDD, using the online Curriculum in IDD Healthcare (CIDDH).
  • Implementing the Curriculum in IDD Healthcare has shown to be effective in improving IDD clinical competency among healthcare providers and students.
  • "We are excited to partner with IntellectAbility to provide IDD healthcare-specific education and training to nurse practitioners and other clinicians.