Disability and climate change—impact on health and survival

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Many individuals have multiple disabilities and may experience social or medical factors differently depending on their race, gender, culture, language (including sign language for deaf people), nationality, geography and other factors. Each of these sub-populations are complexly impacted with respect to health and requirements for assistance for survival.

With greater vulnerability during storms, floods and extreme heat; susceptibility to invasive disease; and the complex disability-related challenges of relocation and forced migration (i.e. finding new housing or support networks); climate disruptions are harder for these populations at virtually all levels compared to those without disabilities.

The clear evidence from past and current natural disasters and refugee situations shows that people with disabilities have a lower survival rate than those without disabilities, and may even be neglected or left to die. Photo journalism showing the impact of Hurricane Katrina in the southeast U.S. in 2005 documented this with tragic photos of dead people in wheelchairs as crowds of other displaced people streamed by.

Stories of people trapped in flooded nursing homes revealed a lack of planning for people whom disaster preparedness leaders had failed to consider. This was especially brought to the mindset of the disability community in 2015 through Rooted in Rights' short documentary Right to be Rescued.

Louisiana following through with warnings to 37,000 Medicaid recipients

This is appalling...

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The Louisiana Department of Health will send official notificationsThursday (May 10) to 37,000 elderly and disabled Medicaid recipients who could lose their benefits that pay for nursing homes and home care on July 1. 

"This letter is scary, but it's not a tactic," said Jay Dardenne, commissioner of administration and chief budget officer for the governor. "I would imagine there is going to be an extreme, adverse reaction from anyone who gets this letter and I don't blame them."

Gov. John Bel Edwards and the Louisiana Legislature could still prevent this cut from happening, but the latest version of the state budget proposal doesn't include funding for four Medicaid programs that mostly provide long-term care services.

Those who could be affected by the Medicaid cuts -- who are expected to receive the notices  -- include about 19,000 people who live in nursing homes, 2,700 people with developmental disabilities and at least 7,600 home health care patients. Another 7,200 people would also be affected, though it's unclear what services they receive.

People who require 24-hour medical care and have lived in nursing facilities or group homes for decades will be scrambling to find new homes if the cut is implemented, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.


Medicare Slow to Boot Docs with State Sanctions

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Federal program keeps paying physicians found incompetent or unethical.

Physicians who land in hot water with state regulators have a helping hand when it comes to keeping their practices running:

The federal government.

At least 216 remained on Medicare payment rolls in 2015 despite surrendering a license, having one revoked, or being excluded from state-paid healthcare rolls in the previous five years, a MedPage Today/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation found. In all, they were paid $25.8 million by taxpayers in 2015 alone.

Among them: Glen Marin, DO, from New York City.

According to New York Department of Health disciplinary records, Marin didn't contest charges that he was sexually inappropriate with a female patient. In California, as a result, he surrendered his license rather than go through a full disciplinary hearing.

He was allowed to keep practicing in New York, but only if he had a chaperone present when he met with female patients.

Since 2007, Marin settled at least three separate malpractice cases, according to TruthMD, including one for failing to diagnose the cancer that eventually killed a patient.

Despite that, taxpayers helped foot the bill for him to keep practicing medicine. In 2015, the year after he surrendered his California license, he was paid more than $280,000 through Medicare.

Other individual physicians who faced serious sanctions were paid as much as $1.4 million that year.

The analysis focused on 2015 because that is the last year for which payment details from the annual $720-billion Medicare program are available.

AARP CALLS THE COPS ON DISABLED PROTESTERS

That's it for my membership in the AARP.....

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Today, ADAPT protested at major nonprofits in Washington DC, to demand support for the Disability Integration Act. By the end of the day, both  the Heritage Foundation and Center for American Progress  expressed their support for the bill. AARP, however, decided to call the police to disperse disabled protesters. AARP represents the interests of older Americans and reports a membership of over 38 million Americans.

The Disability Integration Act prevents state and local officials and insurance companies from denying community-based long term services and supports to disabled people. First introduced by Senator Charles Schumer, the bill has bipartisan support, as well as support from such prominent non-governmental organizations as the ACLU, Move On, The Arc, and Human Rights Campaign.

ADAPT members used their bodies and wheelchairs to block AARP employees from entering and exiting the building. “Many American’s spend decades in their homes; they build lives there and raise their families. Their homes are daily reminders of all the love and joy they poured into those lives. No one should be forced out of their home simply because they need long term supports and services,” said ADAPT National Organizer Bruce Darling.