Daniel Davis

The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) is the oldest cross disability, grassroots organization run by and for people with disabilities. Founded in 1982, NCIL represents over 700 organizations and individuals including: Centers for Independent Living (CILs), Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs), individuals with disabilities, and other organizations that advocate for the human and civil rights of people with disabilities throughout the United States.

Believing that the federal government, the Administration or Congress, was not hearing the views of CIL consumers and people with disabilities, the CIL executive directors organized the National Council on Independent Living. NCIL is an organization governed by people with disabilities advocating for the development and expansion of a nationwide network of centers for independent living.

Since its inception NCIL has carried out its mission by assisting member CILs and SILCs to build their organizational capacity to promote social change, eliminate disability-based discrimination, and create opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in their communities. NCIL promotes a national advocacy agenda set by its membership. Member supports and services included information and referral, training on various issues including organizational development; coalition building; and strategies to accomplish systems change within local communities. NCIL also provides its membership, Congress, Federal agencies and the general public with educational materials related to national disability polices and laws. Here is a brief summary of issues that could impact the disability community and how you can get involved.

S. 1602

On July 29,2005 Senator Grassley (R- Iowa), along with Senators Clinton (D- New York) and Bayn (D- Indiana), introduced S. 1602 as an amendment to title XIX of the Social Security Act. This bill, known as the Improving Long-term Care Choices Act, sets forth a series of proposals aimed at improving the accessibility of long-term care insurance and promoting awareness about the protection that long-term care insurance can offer. It also seeks to broaden the availability of the types of long-term care services such as home- and community-based care, which many people prefer to institutional care.

First, the legislation would require that States disregard benefits paid under a long-term care insurance policy when determining eligibility for Medicaid. Second, it incorporates a series of consumer protections recommended by the National Association of Insurance Commissioner, NAIC, into the definition of 'qualified long-term care services.' Individuals who purchase a policy that have these consumer protections will be eligible for an above the line tax deduction and a tax credit for out-of-pocket expenses made by caregivers. Third, the bill would expand the long-term care partnership program, which currently operates as a demonstration in four states. The long-term care partnerships combine private long-term care insurance with Medicaid coverage once individuals exhaust their insurance benefits. Several States would like to pursue their own long-term care partnerships and this legislation will enable them to do that.

The Improving Long-term Care Choices Act also builds on the President's New Freedom Initiative by taking further steps toward removing the "institutional bias" in Medicaid, giving States the option of providing home- and community-based services as part of their State Medicaid Plan.

In doing so, the bill gives States the flexibility to design long-term care benefits that will reduce the reliance on costly institutional settings and meet the needs of elderly and disabled individuals who overwhelmingly wish to remain in their homes and communities.

Budgetary Battles- Tax Cuts for Wealthy Individuals

Despite all the recent crises, one option for shared sacrifice that remains off the table is tax cuts aimed exclusively at high-income households. Families that earn at least $1 million a year - a group that already receives an average of more than $100,000 per year in tax benefits from other tax cuts enacted since 2001, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center - would ultimately receive an additional $20,000 per year from these two tax cuts, on average. These two tax cuts would cost roughly $20 billion a year once fully in effect (when interest costs are included).

In order to finance the estimated $200 billion Hurricane Katrina recovery the Republican Study Committee of the House of Representatives released a package of proposed program cuts the Committee says could be used to offset the cost of relief and recovery from Hurricane Katrina. While it includes some proposals that should be considered as part of any effort to reduce deficits - which were on an unsustainable path before Katrina struck - the package is not a sensible and carefully considered guide to deficit reduction.

In particular, these proposals would place much of the burden of Katrina relief and deficit reduction on the backs of our nation's poor, seniors, and people with disabilities, as well as on poor people in other countries through cuts in U.S. programs designed to combat global poverty and AIDS.

It is ironic that not long after Hurricane Katrina provided vivid images of the wide gaps between wealth and poverty in this nation, a group of lawmakers would propose a deficit-reduction package that relies heavily on cuts in programs that alleviate the worst effects of poverty. The proposals call for some $340 billion over ten years in cuts to programs that provide important benefits and services to low-income Americans, including nearly $250 billion in cuts to Medicaid which provides health care to low-income children, parents, seniors, and people with disabilities. Nearly 40 percent of the savings in the package would come from cuts in assistance for America's low-income citizens.

There has never been a more important time to let your opinions be heard. As promising as S. 1602 may be for people with disabilities, the current budget battles threaten to undermine the entire Medicaid program, as well as other programs benefiting low-income people with disabilities.

There is still time to get involved. See the Coalition on Human Needs Toolkit for Taking Action to protect vital services for people with disabilities.