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Lawmakers passed a budget that rejected Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to save nearly $95 million by eliminating in-home support services for qualifying older, blind, and disabled immigrants lacking legal residency. Advocates say Newsom’s plan would have cost more in the long run. Newsom has not indicated whether he’ll veto.
People with disabilities say they are abruptly losing their Medicaid home health benefits and are being advised incorrectly when they call state offices for more information. “Every day the anxiety builds,” one beneficiary told KFF Health News.
Families of children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities say Gov. Gavin Newsom is reneging on an expected pay increase for care workers. If the delay goes through, it could impede services and invite legal challenges from advocates.
The state is looking at ways to weed out false reporting of child abuse and neglect as the number of reports reaches a record high.
Thirty years after prisoners with disabilities sued and 25 years after a federal court first ordered accommodations, a judge found that California prison and parole officials still are not doing enough to help deaf and blind prisoners — in part because they are not providing readily available technology such as video recordings and laptop computers.
Commissioner Martin O’Malley testifies to two Senate panels that his agency will stop the “injustices” of suspending people’s monthly benefits to recover alleged overpayments. The burden will be on the Social Security Administration to prove the beneficiary was to blame.
New Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley is promising to change how the agency reclaims billions of dollars it wrongly pays to beneficiaries, saying the existing process is “cruel-hearted and mindless.”
Los Angeles County is deploying a small team of occupational therapists to help newly housed individuals adjust to life indoors. Therapists are trained to recognize disabilities and help with basic living skills, such as hygiene and cleanliness, that can help prevent clients from getting evicted or slipping back onto the streets.
California’s governor vetoed a bill extending insurance coverage for kids with hearing loss, but most states now require it.
More than a third of older adults have a disability. Many find it difficult to get the medical care they need. New federal regulations would address that problem.
Federal officials have long warned that restraint and seclusion in schools can be dangerous and traumatizing for children, but school districts often fail to report incidents as required by law.
The Social Security Administration is reclaiming billions of dollars in alleged overpayments from some of the nation's poorest and most vulnerable, leaving some people homeless or struggling to stay in housing, beneficiaries and advocates say.
Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi sent the letter days after KFF Health News and Cox Media Group reported that the agency has been demanding money back from more than twice as many people as she’d disclosed in October testimony.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, vowed to meet monthly with Social Security officials until the problems surrounding overpayment demands are fixed.
A pilot project in northern Minnesota aims to pave the way for fully autonomous vehicles to offer independence for people who can’t drive.
More than 2 million people a year have been sent notices that Social Security overpaid them and demanding they repay the money. That’s twice as many as the head of Social Security disclosed at a congressional hearing in October.
In the wake of a KFF Health News-Cox Media Group investigation, U.S. lawmakers are asking what Social Security will do about its demands on their constituents to repay money already distributed — and sometimes in error. Sen. Rick Scott called the agency’s actions “unacceptable.”
Coping with disability — and the cost of coping with disability — is an enormously important issue for older adults. Nora Super, an expert on aging, shares her personal story.
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