Independent Living Rally in Olympia

A number of different disability groups, including PAS-Port for Change, the Arc of Washington and Disability Rights Washington are having a rally next Wednesday, March 6, to promote independent living. If you are interested in talking with your legislators about broader disability issues than we discussed at the Day of Activism, this is your chance.

The rally begins at 11am on the Capitol steps facing the Temple of Justice/the Supreme Court building. Individuals are encouraged to make appointments with their legislators for the afternoon to discuss issues like personal care services. Meet in the Columbia Room at 10am to start off your day.

If you go, don't forget to wear your orange scarf to identify yourself as an MS Activist.

Contact me, Jim Freeburg, if you need more information at jim.freeburg@nmss.org or 206-284-4254, ext. 40237.

Day of Activism - continued.....

During our Day of Activism in Olympia last week, we spoke to legislators about the need to keep WSHIP, the state's high risk pool, open as long as possible.  We needed a study to take place before we could be sure that people with MS who are on a WSHIP plan, and find out more about alternatives before we closed the plan. Legislators were very interested in hearing what we had to say and the changes made to Senate Bill 5449 reflect many of our concerns. The study will now come back to us before WSHIP is scheduled to close down and we'll be able to make sure that people with MS have their needs met before the plan goes away. The bill was voted out of the Senate yesterday on a 49-0 vote and during the floor debate, we even heard from Senator Karen Keiser how valuable the program is to people living with MS.

The bill now goes on to the House for consideration. We'll be watching the bill closely to make sure the needs of people living with MS are understood by legislators. Because of the more than 60 MS Activists who came to Olympia last week and had individual conversations with their legislators, that task is much, much easier.

What's the White House doing these days?

I receive periodic emails from the White House about different disability issues that they are working on. It's a pretty impressive range of issues that they are concerned with. If you are interested, sign up here.

In the last email, this bit caught my eye:

Agency News: ODEP launches media campaign encouraging youth with disabilities to pursue career goals

To help millions of people recognize what they can do to make a difference in the lives — and future careers — of young people with disabilities, the U.S. Department of Labor's Campaign for Disability Employment has released a new video public service announcement titled "Because." The PSA features real people with disabilities — not actors — who are pursuing and realizing their goals and passions as a result of the support they received from everyday people in their lives. Because nearly 1 out of 5 Americans has a disability, the PSA is intended to replace myths and misperceptions about disability employment with new views of what people with disabilities can do.

Read more about the new media campaign at the following link: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/odep/ODEP20122469.htm

Advocacy is not just about changing laws. It's about changing public perceptions, too. One of the issues the National MS Society is pursuing with other disability advocacy groups is expanding access to employment. Changing misperceptions about disability employment is definitely necessary to ensure more people with disabilities can work.

Watch Advocacy in Action!

This morning I was in Olympia to testify on two bills important to the MS community. The first bill (Senate Bill 5449) creates a plan for the dissolution of the Washington State Health Insurance Pool (WSHIP), the state's high risk pool. WSHIP was created in 2000 by the Legislature in response to the collapse of the individual health insurance market. It provides health coverage to people who have been denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Now, with the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can no longer deny someone coverage (called guaranteed issue), and WSHIP will no longer be necessary. However, we don't want to close WSHIP until we know exactly what plans will be available to people with MS and other chronic conditions. Watch my testimony here:




In addition, the Senate Health Care Committee also had a hearing on a bill (Senate Bill 5519) to create a plan for financing long-term care in our state. In my testimony, I told the story of a gentleman from Spokane who has experienced significant challenges paying for home care. Watch that hearing below (my testimony is at the 1:14:00 mark).

Olympia here we come!

As the previous post demonstrates, there are hundreds of bills under consideration - most won't get out of committee, but so many will. This year Healthcare bills are front and center as the State continues to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that should be fully implemented in 2014.

Please come out for a few hours on February 19th to join your fellow activists in a concentrated effort to visit our legislators and educate them about how their votes affect our community. Our legislators WANT to hear from us - so few constituants take the time to share our stories and ask for what we want. How else do our representatives know what their district needs?

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/Calendar?id=302056&view=Detail

Get registered for the event and join the educational conference call on February 12th to learn about the legislative agenda for this session.

See you there! - Holly Hawker
Chair - Activism Committee

Bills, bills, bills

Today marks the fourth week of Washington's legislative session and there have been hundreds of bills introduced. With another 3 weeks until the first cutoff, we can definitely expect hundreds more to be introduced. Here are some of the bills I'm tracking.

Bill	Flags	Title	Status	Date	Original Sponsor
HB 1170	f#	Property tax relief programs	H Finance	01/17/2013	Morrell
HB 1273	f	In-home care services	H Finance	01/22/2013	Jinkins
HB 1479		Leased land for mobile home	H Finance	01/28/2013	Orcutt
HB 1517	fd	Health benefit exchange	H Finance	01/29/2013	Cody
HB 1155	fd	Prescription information	H HC/Wellness	01/17/2013	Cody
HB 1410		Insurance wellness programs	H HC/Wellness	01/25/2013	Schmick
HB 1441	o	Long-term care insurance	H HC/Wellness	01/28/2013	Van De Wege
HB 1445		Complex rehab technology	H HC/Wellness	01/28/2013	Cody
HB 1448		Telemedicine	H HC/Wellness	01/28/2013	Bergquist
HB 1528		Biological product prescrips	H HC/Wellness	01/29/2013	Cody
SHB 1000		Healthcare provider immunity	H Rules R	02/01/2013	Moeller
SB 5148	f	Medication access/uninsured	S Health Care	01/21/2013	Keiser
SB 5216	fo	Long-term care insurance	S Health Care	01/23/2013	Rolfes
SB 5267	f	Healthcare prior authorizing	S Health Care	01/24/2013	Becker
SB 5339		Insurance wellness programs	S Health Care	01/28/2013	Becker
SB 5449		State health insurance pool	S Health Care	01/30/2013	Parlette
SB 5469		Biological product prescrips	S Health Care	01/31/2013	Frockt
SB 5084	f	Discovery pass/disabled vets	S Natural Resour	01/17/2013	Benton
SB 5072	f#	Disabled vets/sales & use tx	S Ways & Means	01/17/2013	Delvin
SB 5089	f#	Senior property tax programs	S Ways & Means	01/17/2013	Benton
SB 5108	f#	Disabled vets & sr. citizens	S Ways & Means	01/18/2013	Padden
SB 5283	fd	Health benefit exchange	S Ways & Means	01/24/2013	Hill

The Society hasn't taken an official position on most of these bills, but the list might give you a sense of what legislators have to deal with during the legislative session.

To help you "decode" the chart, here's some background information for you. The first column has the bill number - HB means House Bill and SB means Senate Bill. An "f" means there is a fiscal note (the bill costs money). A "d" or "o" means it's been requested by a state agency ("d") or an executive office like the insurance commissioner ("o"). The abbreviated title of the bill is next, and then comes the committee where the bill currently sits ("S" means Senate and "H" means House). The date of the last action is next, followed by the prime sponsor of the bill.

Any bills interest you?