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Bazelon Center Mental Health Policy ReporterVolume IV : Issue 3 : October 17, 2005
In this Issue
Proposed SSA Disability Rules Raise Serious Concerns(Oct. 17, 2005)--In July, the Social Security Administration (SSA) published proposed regulations to revamp the disability determination process for people applying for benefits under the Supplemental Security Income program (SSI) and Supplemental Security Income Disability program (SSDI). (The same process is used to determine eligibility under both programs.) The proposed rules appear at 70 Fed. Reg. 43590 (July 27, 2005). The changes are significant. Some would streamline the process to applicants’ benefit, but other proposed revisions raise serious concerns. For example, SSA proposes to eliminate the Appeals Council. This would close the administrative record after a decision by an Administrative Law Judge. Also proposed are strict new timelines for submitting evidence, with no allowance of good-cause reasons for failure to meet the timelines. As a result, if the new rules are implemented as now written, many eligible individuals could be denied benefits solely on technical grounds, e.g., for failure to follow the process correctly or because evidence of their disability was not available to them in time. These new rules regarding the appeals process could be particularly problematic for people with mental impairments (serious mental illnesses or mental retardation). Take action! Comment on the proposed regulations. Comments are due before Sunday, October 25. They can be submitted to SSA via the internet at SSA’s site, or through the federal rulemaking site, or by email to regulations@ssa.gov, by fax to (410) 966-2830 or by postal mail to:
The Bazelon Center’s comments are available to give you ideas or for use as a model. For more information: NewsbytesExploiting Youth and Families: Perspectives on Unregulated Private Residential Treatment FacilitiesLeading mental health experts and advocates urge Congress to provide critical oversight of so-called therapeutic boarding schools and residential programs in the United States and abroad that prey on unwitting families whose children have serious mental health needs. The Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate Use of Residential Treatment (A START), a multi-disciplinary taskforce coordinated by the Florida Mental Health Institute and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, studied the increased marketing of unlicensed and unregulated residential programs to desperate families as the best treatment for their children’s mental health needs. “To induce families to send their children to these programs, parents have been told that they must make immediate placements before it is ‘too late,’” said Dr. Robert Friedman, chair of the Department of Child and Family Studies of the University of South Florida, at a briefing in the U.S. Capitol. “Tragically, it is now ‘too late’ for many young people who have died in these programs or suffered great harm. Congress must act quickly to protect other children whose families are being told the same lies.” The group delivered a letter from leading mental health professionals calling for an investigation of these facilities by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and expressing support for the End Institutionalized Abuse Against Children Act of 2005 (H.R. 1738), introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), and the bipartisan Keeping Families Together Act. For more information:
Medicaid Inpatient Coverage Would Break the BankSenate Finance Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is being pressed to pass legislation this week that would allow Medicaid payment for care in private inpatient psychiatric facilities for people from age 21 through 64. Current law, known as the Institutions for Mental Diseases or IMD exclusion, bars Medicaid payment for care in these facilities for people in that broad age range. The exclusion covers hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions with more than 16 beds that are primarily engaged in providing diagnosis, treatment or care of individuals with mental illnesses. Repeal of this law would likely draw funds away from community-based care, particularly peer support services, and increase hospitalization. Given the vastly higher cost of hospital care over community-based services, it would be enormously costly—at a time when Congress is attempting to cut billions from the budget. This issue has not been vetted by Congress and requires further review
before being considered for inclusion in the budget reconciliation (unlike
other spending bills that have widespread support by the disability community,
such as the Family Opportunity Act). Please call Senator Grassley's staff person, Rodney Whitlock, at 202-224-4515 and urge that Senator Grassley oppose any repeal of the IMD exclusion. It is especially critical for people in Iowa to contact Senator Grassley's office. Please also urge other Senators to oppose repeal of the IMD exclusion-- especially the following, who sit on the Finance Committee:
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