Federal Focus - December 2012

Activist Read the MS Activist Blog Chapter Contacts for State Issues Issues Briefs and Background National MS Society Homepage Take Action on Important End-of-the-Year Policies Before heading home for the holidays, Congress has several important items to tackle and complete before early next year. Two of these are particularly vital to the MS community and we urge you to take action and email your members of Congress about them today. One important must-do for Congress is to extend an exceptions process so that Medicare beneficiaries can continue to have access to therapy services. In an effort to save money, Congress passed legislation in 1997 capping the outpatient physical, speech, and occupational therapy services to which Medicare beneficiaries are eligible each calendar year. Because this placed an undue burden on many individuals with MS and other diseases whose annual costs for these services exceed the cap, Congress has consistently acted in a bipartisan manner to extend an exceptions process whereby beneficiaries can ask for services necessary to keep them healthy and functional to be covered. If Congress doesn’t act on this before the end of the year, the exceptions process will go away and access to therapy services will be threatened. Another significant focus of Congress is how to reduce the federal deficit. Across-the-board cuts are slated to take effect in January 2013, but Congress and the Administration are looking at alternatives to avoid that approach. This could take several forms, but regardless could have serious implications for MS research funding and programs important to people with MS, including Medicare and Medicaid. Changes are necessary, but as Congress considers options for deficit reduction, it is important to educate them about the federal programs that directly impact our community. Be sure to take action today—by clicking here, you can email your members of Congress and urge them to consider our priorities before the end of the year: extend the exceptions process for therapy and protect MS research funding, Medicare and Medicaid. Happy Holidays The National MS Society wishes each and every one of you a very happy holiday season. We continue to face economic challenges in our country and occasional opposition but despite these obstacles, MS Activists remain strong and true to our mission of ending MS forever. In 2012 alone, MS Activists sent over 25,000 email messages to Congress urging support of various policies important to our community and we were heard. Progress would not be possible without the dedication and tenacity of MS Activists. Happy holidays and we look forward to another great year in 2013.

Rights Treaty Fails in the Senate, but Progress was Made

You may have heard by now that on Tuesday, the United States Senate took the vote on whether to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It needed a two thirds majority for ratification and fell short, garnering 61 votes in favor to 38 opposed. (For a list of how all Senators voted, click here, and feel free to send thanks to those who supported the treaty). This was a rare opportunity for American MS Activists to push expansion of civil rights for persons with disabilities on an international scale and while not yet successful, your efforts were very impressive and you should be proud of the progress that was made. Over a series of months, MS Activists sent over 10,000 messages to U.S. Senators. Because of the tremendous effort of you and our coalition partners, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the CRPD and voted it out of Committee. You also helped garner support from key political champions of the disability community including war heroes like Sen. John McCain and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole as well as President George H. W. Bush. Unfortunately the opposition created arguments against the treaty that simply aren’t accurate, suggesting that the United Nations would interfere with how we educate and raise children with disabilities. Some Senators took the position that by ratifying the treaty, it would give ‘cover’ to our enemies that have signed the treaty. This opposition clouded what was most important--declaring and reaffirming the rights of Americans with disabilities in the international realm. The United States became the worldwide leader in the disability rights the moment President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) over 22 years ago and the nations that have already ratified this treaty are now, a generation later, moving forward with disability rights by declaring that they too embrace what is embodied in the ADA. To date, 125 countries and the European Union have approved the treaty. While the result of the Senate vote is extremely disappointing, this isn’t the end. In January, a new Senate will be sworn in and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has already indicated that he intends to bring the CRPD back for another vote sometime in the next two years. We will continue to work on this important issue so that the rights of Americans with disabilities are rightly recognized internationally. In the meantime, be proud of the work you have done and be ready to take action when the opportunity arises.