Senator Jeffords Wins Family Voices Award!
    Senator Jeffords was awarded the coveted Family Voices Legislative Award for his outstanding leadership and dedication to all people with disabilities. Senator Jeffords has proved himself as a leader in many areas. As chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, Senator Jeffords worked tirelessly to develop a bill, called the "Patients Bill of Rights Act", which if passed, will dramatically improve the way Americans receive health care. In 1998 he authored the "Tech Act" which creates grants for states to fund projects which assist people with disabilities to learn about, effectively use and access assistive technology. Last year alone Vermont received $689,000 through the Tech Act. Senator Jeffords worked hard to convince others that the federal government should be paying more towards the high cost of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). When special education was passed into law in 1976, Congress pledged to pay 40%. Currently the federal share for IDEA is only 12% and the state share is 88%. In the past 3 years, there has been a $1.7 billion increase to education... still a far cry from the actual cost. He introduced and has been working to pass the Work Incentive Improvement Act, which creates incentives for individuals with disabilities to work and keep health benefits through Medicaid or Medicare. Maureen Mitchell had the honor of presenting Senator Jeffords the award on February 8 in Washington D.C.

Parent to Parent Continues to Expand!
    With support from Medicaid and Children with Special Health Needs, Parent to Parent has expanded its support to families around health care financing. We'd like to welcome Cathy Cook as our new Healthcare Financing Consultant for northern VT. Cathy, along with Maureen Mitchell, is able to answer your questions about Medicaid, SSI, Waivers, Medicaid Managed Care, health insurance and how to get services or equipment for children with special health care needs. You can reach either Cathy Cook or Maureen Mitchell by calling 800-800-4005 and 800-559-5256 respectively. They look forward to hearing from you.
    Please call us with concerns, problems, or your success stories so services can continuously be improved.

MORE HELP FOR HEALTH CARE QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS
    The Office of Healthcare Ombudsman is a special project of Vermont Legal Aid. The Office of Health Care Ombudsman is a new program designed to help Vermonters with questions and concerns surrounding health care insurance. Their office is staffed by healthcare counselors who answer a statewide toll free number. Services are provided to everyone regardless of income or resources. They can assist you with all types of health insurance coverage, including Medicaid fee-for-service, Medicaid managed care, Medicaid Dr. Dynasaur, VHAP and commercial healthcare insurances and managed care.
    Some of the issues they can help you with are billing problems, denials of care, understanding the grievance process, and delays in receiving care. They can also assist you in understanding the Mental Health Parity Act and how it affects the mental health benefits of your insurance. They will refer you to the appropriate agencies and can advocate for you in resolving these issues.
    Another important aspect of this new office is being a public voice for you and your children by recommending system changes in federal and state health care regulations. They will provide the legislature with information by monitoring major trends in health care developments and data derived from your issues and concerns.
    They can be reached at 1-800-917-7787 (voice and TTY) and are located within the office of Vermont Legal Aid at 264 Winooski Avenue, in Burlington.
    Parent to Parent and the Ombudsman Program are working together to answer questions and clarify concerns.

Primary Care Case Management program (PCCM):
    In early January Kaiser Permenente (formerly called CHP) announced they would no longer enroll the SSI disabled population into Kaiser's Medicaid Managed Care plan called Access Plus. The State of Vermont responded by announcing they would create a State plan, by July 1, 1999, called the Primary Care Case Management plan (PCCM) that will enroll Vermont's SSI population (individuals with disabilities receiving Supplemental Security Income-SSI).
    The PCCM plan will be a cross between fee-for-service Medicaid and a Managed Care plan. The focus will be on care coordination and ensuring access to adequate health care for this population of individuals who tend to be high consumers of health care. The disability community plans to work closely on the development of this plan. If you would like to help design the PCCM program please call Maureen Mitchell at 800-559-5256 or Liz Reardon, director of Medicaid Managed Care at 802-241-2743.

PERSONAL CARE SERVICES
    Personal Care Services (PCS) is an entitled service, to children under age 21 years, who are eligible for Medicaid and for whom a physician indicates that this services is medically necessary. Examples of families who found PCS helpful include: a family who has a 7 year old child with cerebral palsy who cannot bathe or feed him or herself independently because of poor muscle control; or a family who has an 11 year old with Autism Spectrum Disorder who needs constant supervision to carry out "activities of daily living" (ADL) such as dressing and grooming because of a challenging behavior. A child could be found eligible to receive Personal Care Services who, because of a physical, behavioral or cognitive problem, has difficulty with carrying out some (or all) of the following activities of daily living: bathing, feeding, dressing, toileting, transferring, grooming, walking or positioning. This child would receive assistance with personal care from Professional Nurses Service (PNS), Visiting Nurse Association (VNA), or Home Health Agencies for children with physical limitations. The Community Mental Health Center provides personal care services for children with emotional, behavioral or cognitive limitations.
    For more information contact Parent to Parent or one of the agencies mentioned above.

Main Vermont Voices Links Page
More info on Insurance (Six Ways Booklet)
Link to previous VT Family Voices Page

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