Older Americans
Information on aging related problems
At the time of moving to a nursing home, most of the elderly have only income to cover one year of nursing home care, according to the latest GAO Report.Must have Adobe Acrobat to download full article Click here to download
Legislation written to benefit special interest groups
Jeers
Villarogasa, Mayor of Los Angeles, is purposely staying out of a fight between activists supporting a long time South-Central garden that has provided fresh produce to the community and an apparel business that wants to operate a warehouse on the land. This after he very publicly demonstrated in support of the garden. The belief is the $1.3 million dollars in campaign contributions he has received from the apparel industry has something to do with his decision.
In exchange for contributions, Congress is doing the bidding of medical equipment makers. John Boehner, the House Republican leader and Pete Stark and John Dingell, two Democratic committee chairmen pushed for provisions that will eliminate competitive bidding for products sold to Medicare.
In exchange for substandard and illegal weapons, the US Army awarded a company owned by a 21 year old and a 25 year old former masseuse a $300 million contract.
In exchange for $45,000 in contributions to a redistricting plan supported by Ca Gov. Schwarzenegger, a San Diego Indian tribe is able to avoid paying $30 million in gambling revenue to the State of California.
Bill SB 1096 introduced by Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) that would allow drugstores to share people's info with mass-mailers people’s prescription drug records. California legislation - Defeated.
In exchange for $16,000 in campaign contributions, Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar) has written legislation in collaboration with a company that has an agreement with the property's owner to develop a site that is not even in Fuentes district. The legislation would restrict what the City of Los Angeles can do to control the development. California legislation - Pending.
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Library of Congress THOMAS
Federal Legislation(H.R.3057) Medicare Long-Term Patient Safety and Improvement Act of 2007. House and Senate were able to override the Presidential veto. The bill would protect doctors from reductions in Medicare payments. It does that by reducing payments federal payments to private Medicare Advantage plans, offered by insurers like Humana, UnitedHealth and Blue Cross and Blue Shield. By the way, these entities are currently subsidized by taxpayers, that is they charge between 12-17% more than the Medicare program charge.
(H.RES.791) Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) federal and state financial assistance should be increased, and access should be broadened, for publicly supported home and community-based services for individuals with disabilities; and (2) there should be implemented on both the federal and state levels more unified training and supervision standards for certified nurse aides and homecare aides. Sponsor: Rep Hastings, Alcee L. [FL-23] (introduced 11/1/2007) Cosponsors (3) Latest Major Action: 11/1/2007 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. S.2480 Title: Nursing Home Quality and Transparency Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to disclose, through the use of the Internet website of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the identities of those long-term care facilities that appear on the list of special focus facilities (poor-performing nursing homes) under the Special Focus Facility Program of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Sponsor: Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY] (introduced 12/13/2007) Cosponsors (2) Latest Major Action: 12/13/2007 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. S.2267 Title: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an income tax credit for eldercare expenses. Sponsor: Sen Klobuchar, Amy [MN] (introduced 10/31/2007) Cosponsors (2) Latest Major Action: 10/31/2007 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. S.1854 Title: A bill to amend the Social Security Act and the Public Health Service Act to improve elderly suicide early intervention and prevention strategies, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Sen Reid, Harry [NV] (introduced 7/23/2007) Cosponsors (4) Related Bills: H.R.4897 Latest Major Action: 7/23/2007 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (HR 784/S.450) addresses the cap on therapy services for Medicare beneficiaries. Those at most risk are the ones expected to suffer if this cap is not repealed. These include stroke victims, those suffering from spinal cord injuries, and osteoporosis. With the cap, these individuals must choose between 100 percent out of pocket expenses when the cap has been reached or foregoing treatment.S.450 Title: A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to repeal the medicare outpatient rehabilitation therapy caps. Sponsor: Sen Ensign, John [NV] (introduced 1/31/2007) Cosponsors (39) Related Bills: H.R.748 Latest Major Action: 1/31/2007 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. H.R.5352 Title: To protect seniors in the United States from elder abuse by establishing specialized elder abuse prosecution and research programs and activities to aid victims of elder abuse, to provide training to prosecutors and other law enforcement related to elder abuse prevention and protection, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep Sestak, Joe [PA-7] (introduced 2/12/2008) Cosponsors (4) Latest Major Action: 5/14/2008 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held. For information on this and other Congressional legislation, go to THOMAS, the federal agency designated to provide federal legislation information to the public. |
U.S. Supreme CourtThe U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the part of the major anti-age bias law covering federal employees also protects them from retaliation after complaining about age discrimination. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of older workers. According to the New York Times in a 7-1 ruling, the Supreme Court decided it is up to the employer to show that action against a worker stems from “reasonable factors other than age.” (6/19/08) State LegislationThese are some of the states that currently have elderly legislation before them
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