New Medicaid Eligibility Handbook
You can access the Medicaid Eligbility Handbook issued on November 16, 2009 at http://www.emhandbooks.wi.gov/meh-ebd. Changes to the handbook include:
- New text was added regarding the types of eligibility in Family Care Medicaid (MEH 29.3.1).
- New text was added regarding Presumptive Disability. (MEH 5.9.3). In situations where a medical professional attests to an urgent need, but the applicant does not have an impairment on the Presumptive Disability form, the ES worker must still document the urgent need and complete a Medicaid Disability Application form (F-10112) and submit to the DDB via the automated process, or via fax.
Social Security makes it official: No COLA in 2010
Source: Social Security Administration
No cost of living increase will occur in 2010 for more than 50 million Social Security recipients next year, the first year without a raise since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975, the government announced Thursday.
Blame falling consumer prices. By law, cost of living adjustments are pegged to inflation, which is negative this year because of lower energy costs. Social Security payments do not go down, even when prices drop.
On October 14, 2009, the Obama administration called for a second round of $250 stimulus payments for seniors, veterans, retired railroad workers and people with disabilities to help increase income.
Information about Medicare changes for 2010, now available, can be found at www.Medicare.gov.
For additional information about the 2010 COLA, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/cola.
BadgerCare Plus Core Plan Enrollment Update
Enrollment in the BadgerCare Plus Core Plan will be suspended starting at noon on Friday. A waiting list will be used for individuals that apply after the deadline. More information about BadgerCare Plus Suspension.
New rules in WHEAP Eligibility
Beginning on October 1, 2009 the Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program (WHEAP) will have new eligibility rules. The income guidelines will no longer be based on 150% of the Federal Poverty Level. Instead, eligibility will be based on 60% of the state median income. This change is due to new state legislation passed in the spring of 2009. The new criteria will make more households eligible to take advantage of this benefit. Below is the chart for income eligibility starting on October 1, 2009.
INCOME GUIDELINES FOR THE 2009-2010 WHEAP HEATING SEASON
60 PERCENT OF STATE MEDIAN INCOME GUIDELINES
| Size of Family | ONE MONTH | THREE MONTH | ANNUAL INCOME |
| 1 | 1,953.00 | 5,859.00 | 23,435.00 |
| 2 | 2,554.00 | 7,661.00 | 30,645.00 |
| 3 | 3,155.00 | 9,464.00 | 37,856.00 |
| 4 | 3,756.00 | 11,267.00 | 45,067.00 |
| 5 | 4,356.00 | 13,069.00 | 52,277.00 |
| 6 | 4,957.00 | 14,872.00 | 59,488.00 |
| 7 | 5,070.00 | 15,210.00 | 60,840.00 |
| 8 | 5,183.00 | 15,548.00 | 62,192.00 |
For more information visit the website: http://homeenergyplus.wi.gov/category.asp?linkcatid=239&linkid=118&locid=25.
Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the ADA
Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
A “pandemic” is a global “epidemic.”(2) The world has seen four influenza pandemics in the last century. The deadly “Spanish Flu” of 1918 was followed by the milder “Asian” and “Hong Kong” flus of the 1950s and 1960s. While the SARS outbreak in 2003 was considered a pandemic “scare,”(3) the H1N1 outbreak in 2009 rose to the level of a pandemic.(4)
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the World Health Organization (WHO) are the definitive sources of information about influenza pandemics. The WHO classifies pandemic influenza into six phases(5) which describe how widely influenza is spreading around the world, but not the severity of the influenza symptoms. A WHO announcement that the world is in Pandemic Phase 6 (the highest phase) would indicate that there is sustained human-to-human transmission worldwide, and that the virus is no longer contained in a few geographic areas. It would not, however, automatically mean that the influenza symptoms are severe.
Pandemic planning and pandemic preparedness include everything from global and national public health strategies to an individual employer’s plan about how to continue operations. Comprehensive federal government guidance advises employers about best practices for pandemic preparation and response with respect to influenza, specifically the 2009 H1N1 virus. More information is included in the EEOC technical assistance document focusing on implementing pandemic planning and pandemic preparedness strategies in a manner that is consistent with the ADA.
Planning Accessible Meetings
The US Department of Justice has issued a new publication in their "Expanding Your Market" series titled: "Accessible Information Exchange: Meeting on a Level Playing Field". This publication focuses on planning and conducting meetings and events that are accessible to people with disabilities. This publication is available on-line at: http://www.ada.gov/business/accessiblemtg.htm
Pandemic Flu Fact Sheet
ODEP's Job Accommodation Network (JAN) has just released a new fact sheet,
"Considering the Needs of Employees with Disabilities During a
Pandemic Flu Outbreak." Covering
Critical Questions, Telework, and General Considerations, it also
offers links to valuable resources you can use immediately. This
fact sheet is now available on the JAN Website at:
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/topics/panflu.htm
ERI Becomes Employment Network
U.S. Social Security Administration Awards Employment Network Contract to Employment Resources, Inc. for Ticket to Work Program
Employment Resources, Inc. (ERI) is pleased to announce our newest offering to individuals with disabilities seeking employment. ERI has been awarded a contract as an Employment Network for the Ticket to Work program.
As a Ticket to Work Program Employment Network, ERI can provide ticket holders with an array of employment services including employment counseling, benefits counseling, and other employment support services. More about our Ticket to Work services.
“ERI is pleased to be a part of the network of providers focusing on increasing opportunities for individuals with disabilities in becoming self-sufficient and increasing his or her personal independence through employment,” Tammy Liddicoat, Executive Director, Employment Resources, Inc. (ERI).
The Ticket to Work program is an employment program for people with disabilities who are interested in going to work. The Ticket Program is part of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 – legislation designed to remove many of the barriers that previously influenced people’s decisions about going to work because of the concerns over losing health care coverage. The goal of the Ticket Program is to increase opportunities and choices for Social Security disability beneficiaries to obtain employment, vocational rehabilitation (VR), and other support services from public and private providers, employers, and other organizations. More information about Ticket to Work is available online at http://www.yourtickettowork.com.
Employment Resources, Inc. (ERI) provides employment and benefits counseling, assistive technology, and community outreach services to people with disabilities who are considering or pursuing employment. ERI also offers statewide consultation, training and technical assistance to employers, human service professionals, disability advocates, government agencies and the public regarding disability and employment issues.
Report on Employer Hiring Actions and Attitudes
January 13, 2008: The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) today released findings of the most extensive survey in history of employers' actions and attitudes toward employing people with disabilities. The report is available at www.dol.gov/odep.
CESSI, a division of Axiom Resource Management Inc., conducted the survey of 3,797 companies, which statistically represent more than 2.4 million companies nationwide. This survey found that a majority of large businesses are hiring people with disabilities and discovering that costs for accommodations differ very little from those for the general employee population. Additionally, the survey showed that once an employer hires one person with a disability, it is much more likely that employer will hire other people with disabilities.
Employment Gap Widens For Workers With Disabilities
from The Daily Times
November 24th 2008: Just in the past few years, the employment gap has widened between the number of working-age Americans with disabilities who are employed and those workers without disabilities, as a recent government study has reported.
The finding was part of a series of reports released by Cornell University in collaboration with the American Association of People with Disabilities. The researchers found that the "employment gap" between those with disabilities in the work force and those workers without disabilities was 40.3 percent. That represents a .6 percentage point increase from the previous year, when the gap was 39.7 percent.
The growth in the gap means that there are fewer people with disabilities in the work force relative to the total number of Americans employed. "The rise in the employment gap also suggests that people with disabilities are not participating in the current economy," said Andrew Houtenville, director of Cornell's Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics.
Another key finding in the reports also highlighted the fact that the poverty rate rose more for people with disabilities than for those without. For people with disabilities, it increased .8 percentage points, to 24.1 percent of working-age Americans, and from 23.3 percent the year after. For people without disabilities, while the poverty rate did increase, it only increased .2 percentage points, to 9.1 percent, from 8.9 percent the year before.
Some Cornell researchers are investigating whether the employment gap may be due, in part, to what they call the "poverty trap." Under current federal rules, people with disabilities must be essentially unemployed to receive government benefits, but the support they receive isn't enough to keep them out of poverty, they point out. As a matter of fact, to my recollection, nothing significant has been done to right this wrong.
"Those with the lowest incomes lose 50 cents for every dollar they earn. That's a higher tax rate than Bill Gates pays," said David Stapleton, director of the Cornell Institute for Policy Research.
Stapleton and others recommended that federal policy be revisited to reward, rather than punish, people with disabilities who earn income through employment.
The Cornell reports also showed that the recent employment rate of working-age people without disabilities was 77.6 percent, as compared with 37.9 percent for working-age people with disabilities that year.
Later on, the employment rate for people without disabilities rose .2 percentage points, to 77.8 percent, while the employment rate of people with disabilities declined .4 percentage points, to 37.5 percent. Clearly, a number of items need to be addressed to right many of these wrongs.
In particular, the "poverty gap" must be addressed and solved so that people with disabilities who want to work are not "punished" because they did get a job that paid them "earned income."
By the way, this is just one of many such ill-thought-out government regulations that still end up penalizing people with disabilities who want to and are working.
Ticket to Work: Frequently Asked Questions
Visit Social Security's website to find out more information about the Ticket to Work, a program designed to increase the quantity, quality and range of employment services available to SSA beneficiaries with disabilities. More information.
The Social Security Administration recently issued final rules designed to improve the Ticket to Work program. The changes will improve the effectiveness of the Ticket program in assisting beneficiaries with disabilities who want to work.
The new Ticket to Work program rules:
- Include more beneficiaries under the Program--The population of individuals eligible for a Ticket is expanded to include beneficiaries who are expected to medically improve.
- Increase incentive payments for Employment Networks (ENs)--The new rules modify the EN payment systems to create greater financial incentives for service providers to participate, which will improve beneficiary access to services and expand the pool of quality providers available to serve beneficiaries.
- Increase the value of the Ticket--The rules for Ticket assignment are changed to enable beneficiaries with disabilities to take advantage of a more effective combination of services from both State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies and ENs.
- Synergize efforts--The new rules promote better alignment of the Ticket to Work Program, the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance Program, the Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security Program, and other Social Security work incentive initiatives.
In preparation for the new Ticket to Work program, Social Security is undertaking a major recruitment effort to increase the number of organizations functioning as ENs. Social Security also is initiating targeted outreach to promote the Program to more beneficiaries and to encourage their participation. In addition, Social Security is presenting at national and state conferences and bringing beneficiaries and ENs together at local Work Incentives Seminars (WISE events) throughout the country.
The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 established the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program. The purpose of the Ticket to Work program is to expand the universe of service providers available to beneficiaries with disabilities who are seeking vocational rehabilitation, employment and related support services. These service providers are available to assist beneficiaries in obtaining, regaining and maintaining self-supporting employment. Available in all 50 States and the US territories, the Ticket to Work program is an important component in a coordinated series of work incentives and initiatives that are designed to help overcome barriers to employment often experienced by beneficiaries with disabilities.
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