News from the National Senior Citizens Law Center

Details about these stories are available at the NSCLC website, http://www.nsclc.org

Social Security Administration to Pay $500 Million in Settlement, Stops Unlawful Social Security Suspensions

The Social Security Administration has agreed to repay more than $500 million in benefits that were unlawfully withheld from 80,000 people whose benefits have been suspended or denied since January 1, 2007. If approved by the court, people whose benefits were suspended or denied between 2000 and 2006 also will be notified and given a chance to re-establish eligibility.  All told, more than 200,000 people may benefit from the settlement.  Read more

–Important Information for Advocates Working with Social Security and Supplemental Security Income Recipients:  Your clients stand to benefit immensely from the Martinez settlement.  If approved by the court, approximately 80,000 beneficiaries are eligible for over $500 million in withheld benefits. Please help us get the word out and be on the lookout for potential class members. Read our special alert for advocates

Learn more about the Martinez settlement  |  To sign up to receive updates on the Martinez settlement, contact: Nancy Arévalo | For more information, contact: Gerald McIntyre

Older People with Disabilities Sue, Win Preliminary Injunction to Halt Adult Day Health Care Cuts

On August 18, 2009 several elderly plaintiffs with disabilities filed a class action lawsuit, Brantley, et al. v. Maxwell-Jolly, Director of California Department of Health Care Services, to stop devastating budget-related cuts in Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) services. On September 10, 2009 the presiding judge in the case issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the State from implementing the cuts until appropriate alternative services are provided to prevent inappropriate institutionalization.  ADHC provides daytime health and nursing care, therapies and other services to low-income seniors and people with disabilities.  The cuts, if implemented, would place as many as 8,000 recipients at immediate risk of institutionalization, hospitalization, injury or death. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Northern District of California, alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and federal Medicaid law.  The plaintiffs are represented by Disability Rights California, the National Senior Citizens Law Center, AARP Foundation Litigation, and the National Health Law Program.  Learn more about the ADHC case | For more information, contact: Anna Rich

NSCLC Comments on HCBS Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

NSCLC submitted comments to CMS on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking relating to Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers. NSCLC’s comments call for federal standards, rather than policy guidelines, to assure that HCBS services truly are provided in a home-like setting, and that residents receive adequate care. For more information, contact: Eric Carlson or Gene Coffey

GAO Faults Lack of Agencywide Translation Policy for Medicare Documents

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report, “Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: CMS Should Develop an Agencywide Policy for Translating Medicare Documents into Languages Other Than English,”  which found that CMS does not have a uniform policy about translation of Medicare documents and that translation decisions are at the discretion of different CMS components. In order to achieve goals of consistency and transparency, GAO recommended that CMS develop a written policy that includes criteria for translation decisions and apply the policy across the agency. NSCLC provided input to the report’s authors and has been active in urging CMS to undertake more translations of its own documents and also to require more translations by health plans and other providers of documents they produce. Read the GAO report | For more information, contact: Georgia Burke

Fewer Low Income Medicare Beneficiaries Will Need to Change Part D Prescription Drug Plans in 2010

To hold down the numbers of low income Medicare beneficiaries who will need to change their Part D prescription drug plans because of premium increases, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) adopted new calculation methods for determining “benchmarks” premiums.  With the new methodology, CMS predicts that approximately 800,000 beneficiaries will need to change plans if they wish to have the full benefit of the low income subsidy (LIS). This number represents about half of the beneficiaries that CMS expected would have been affected if CMS had not changed the benchmark calculation methods for the 2010 plan year.  The CMS action responds in part to concerns raised by advocates, including NSCLC, about program instability for low income beneficiaries. For more information, contact: Kevin Prindiville

Articles and Publications

How the Sotomayor Saga Could Help Progressives Take Back the Courts

As Supreme Court experts rarely fail to point out, Sonia Sotomayor’s accession to the Supreme Court this week will do little to shift future outcomes in hot button cases, because she will likely vote as did her predecessor, center-left Justice David Souter. Nevertheless, the confirmation ritual she has just completed could ultimately turn out to be a substantial plus for progressives. Her performance, and even more, statements by senators, especially Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy, could reposition progressives on and off the Court with a new vision that spotlights the Roberts Court’s appetite for judicial supremacy and reactionary outcomes — “unabashed law-making,” as Justice John Paul Stevens recently put it. This article originally was published in the American Prospect. Read the article | For more information, contact: Simon Lazarus

Long-Term Care Law Reporter

The latest issue of NSCLC’s bimonthly publication on long-term care includes several articles of interest to advocates:

–New Mexico Appellate Court Overturns $53 Million Verdict Against Nursing Facility Corporation

–Protection and Advocacy Agency Not Allowed to Obtain Mental Health Records from State

–Thirty State Attorneys General Request Suspension of Federal Five-Star Rating System for Nursing Facilities; CMS Responds By Defending System

–Courts Address Nursing Facility Arbitrations When Arbitration Service Refuses to Serve Under Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements