Healthcare Access

Disability Rights and Health Advocacy Organizations Urge Recission of TennCare III Demonstration

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July 12, 2021
In the dying days of the Trump adminsitration, CMS approved Tennessee's latest Medicaid 1115 waiver proposal which establishes TennCare III under a federal spending cap rather than a program that provides healthcare to all low-income Tennesseans who qualify. The National Health Law Program, the Tennessee Justice Center, and King and Spalding filed a complaint April 22, 2021 in the DC District Court on behalf of thirteen TennCare enrollees, arguing that the Trump administration failed to follow the proper rules before approving the waiver. and that the waiver cannot be approved under 1115's authority to conduct an experiment when Tennessee's proposal affects nearly all TennCare's 1.5 million enrollees for a ten year period. DREDF and 14 other disability rights and healthcare advocy organizations who are concerned about the negative impact on Tennessee's Medicaid enrolless and the bad precedent established for other states sent a letter to CMS asking the agency to take back approval for the changes to Tennessee's medicaid program. [...]

Supreme Court Ruling Leaves ACA Intact

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The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund applauds the June 17, 2021 Supreme Court decision in California v. Texas, which upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its critical nondiscrimination and healthcare expansion provisions.  The ruling by the nation's highest Court rejected a significant challenge to the constitutionality of the ACA.  In 2020, DREDF and a number of allied organizations filed an amicus brief opposing attempts to dismantle the ACA provisions that people, including many with disabilities, rely on to receive the healthcare services and supports they need. [...]

DREDF Supports Discussion Draft of Legislation Making Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Mandatory

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April 27, 2021
Senators Hassan, Brown and Casey, and Representative Dingell, released a discussion draft of the Home and Community-Based Services Access Act (HAA) in mid-March, seeking broad stakeholder comment. The federal HAA is in an early form but addresses a long-sought goal of the disability community to require states to offer home and community-based services and not only institutional nursing home care under Medicaid. This requirement would help eliminate the waiting lists and patchwork of eligibility and services that Medicaid beneficiaries with long-term care needs currently have to navigate. The HAA also tries to establish living wages and working conditions for the HCBS workforce that will help ensure stable HCBS for all eligible Medicaid enrollees who want HCBS. DREDF worked with the Consortium of Citizens for Disabilities to submit a detailed set of joint comments and also a shorter DREDF set of specific additional comments.[...]

DREDF and Others Press HHS OCR to Strengthen Nondiscrimination in Healthcare

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February 11, 2021
DREDF, with partners Not Dead Yet and the Patients Rights Action Fund, have assembled a total of 30 disability rights and racial justice organizations to support further regulatory action by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights. In particular, the groups want to see the formal HHS release of the recently issued but not yet published Request for Information (RFI) on "Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in Critical Health and Human Service Programs or Activities" (RIN: 0945-AA15). [...]

Elevated COVID-19 Mortality Risk Among Recipients of Home and Community-Based Services: A Case for Prioritizing Vaccination for This Population

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February 11, 2021
H. Stephen Kaye, Ph.D., published a paper setting out his analysis of mortality risk among recipients of home and community-based services. He finds that HCBS recipients between 45 and 64 years of age appear to be at greater mortality risk than the general community-resident population between 65 and 74 years of age. He concludes that this elevated mortality risk justifies increasing the vaccination priority for HCBS recipients under age 65 to equal that of the general population age 65 and older. [...]

New Analysis of COVID-19 Mortality Risk for Californians with Disabilities Under Age 65

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January 31, 2021
H. Stephen Kaye, Ph.D., released a new data analysis of COVID-19 mortality risk for Californians who receive in-home supportive services (IHSS) or services from the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) — including recipients under age 65. Dr. Kaye finds that the increased risk for mortality among IHSS and DDS service recipients puts them in a risk category equivalent to other Californians in a higher age group. He finds, for example, that disabled recipients of IHSS or DDS services between 45 and 64 years of age are at greater mortality risk from COVID-19 than the general, community-resident population between 65 and 74 years of age. [...]

Prioritizing People with Disabilities for COVID-19 Vaccination

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December 29, 2020
DREDF, along with four other disability or aging organizations that are represented on the California Community Vaccination Advisory Committee, sent a letter to the state’s Vaccination Drafting Guidelines Committee prior to its December 29 meeting. The letter advocates for prioritized vaccination for lower-income persons with disabilities of all ages who receive home and community-based long-term services and supports, as well as those with disabilities who are at great risk of COVID-19 infection and severe illness or death, particularly in light of medical rationing concerns.

Joint Letter Opposing Health Care Providers’ Request for Complete Immunity from Responsibility for Negligent Health Care

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April 23, 2020
DREDF and eleven other civil rights and consumer advocacy organizations sent a letter on April 23 to Governor Newsom, opposing an April 9 request from health provider organizations, including nursing homes, for complete immunity from "any administrative sanction or criminal or civil liability" during the COVID-19 crisis.

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