State Action Round-Up on Affordable Care Act Implementation

In less than six months, the major health insurance provisions of the Affordable Care Act will go into effect. This is the second post in a series that offers an overview of action on the new state health insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, and expansion in eligibility for the Medicaid program.
Insurance Marketplace Updates
Beginning on October 1, 2013, Americans who do not have affordable health benefits through a job will be able to go to a new health insurance marketplace in their state and enroll in a private health plan. Adults with annual incomes up to 400 percent of poverty ($45,960 for an individual and $94,200 for a family of four) will be eligible for premium tax credits to help reduce the cost of coverage. In most states, companies with 50 or fewer employees will also be able to select plans through their state’s small-business marketplaces.
Currently, 16 states and the District of Columbia intend to operate a state-based marketplace, while the remaining 34 states will have a federally facilitated marketplace. Seven of these 34 states will conduct plan management activities and/or consumer assistance and outreach functions in a state–federal partnership model. Another seven of the 34 will conduct plan management activities only, and one, Utah, will operate the small-business marketplace while the federal government operates the individual marketplace.
Here is a list of recent state and federal activity.
Action on state-based marketplaces:

• New York state regulators announced that insurance rates for plans sold through the exchange in 2014 are as much as 50 percent lower than what individuals currently pay to purchase a plan on their own. 
• Approved 2014 rates.
• Governor’s press release. 
• $7,243,004 of $150 million in grants to community health centers went to 57 centers in New York
• More.......

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Blog/2013/Jul/State-Action-Roundup-July-19.aspx

First ADHD brain wave test approved by FDA

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm360811.htm

FDA permits marketing of first brain wave test to help assess children and teens for ADHD

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today allowed marketing of the first medical device based on brain function to help assess attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents 6 to 17 years old. When used as part of a complete medical and psychological examination, the device can help confirm an ADHD diagnosis or a clinician’s decision that further diagnostic testing should focus on ADHD or other medical or behavioral conditions that produce symptoms similar to ADHD.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/health/brain-test-to-diagnose-adhd-is-approved.html

The test uses an electroencephalogram, or EEG, with sensors attached to a child’s head and hooked by wires to a computer to measure brain waves. It traces different types of electrical impulses given off by nerve cells in the brain and records how many times those impulses are given off each second.

The test takes 15 to 20 minutes, and measures two kinds of brain waves — theta and beta. Certain combinations of those waves tend to be more prevalent in children with A.D.H.D., the Food and Drug Administration said in a news release.

Dancing and tears greet book treaty for blind

http://www.groundup.org.za/content/dancing-and-tears-greet-book-treaty-blind

Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or otherwise Print Disabled, 

http://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/en/article/ida-press-release-new-wipo-treaty-27-june-2013Geneva 1 July 2013 – Last week (27 June 2013), a new historic treaty was adopted in Marrakesh under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to boost access to books for the benefit of hundreds of millions of people who are blind, visually impaired and print-disabled.

The treaty, called the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or otherwise Print Disabled, requires the contracting parties to adopt national law provisions that permit the reproduction, distribution and making available of published works in accessible formats through limitations and exceptions to the rights of copyright right holders. It also provides for the exchange of these accessible format works across borders by organizations that serve the people who are blind, visually impaired, and print disabled. In this regards, it will harmonize limitations and exceptions so that these organizations can operate across borders. The Treaty, which calls for cooperation among its contracting parties in order to foster cross-border exchanges, has been also designed to provide assurances to authors and publishers that that system will not expose their published works to misuse or distribution to anyone other than the intended beneficiaries.

This Treaty will benefit more than 314 million blind and visually impaired persons worldwide. Currently only 5% of all published books in the developed countries and less than 1% in the developing countries have been produced in accessible formats.

The World Blind Union (WBU) has been instrumental in the negotiations of this Treaty, which has been the culmination of many years of work on improving access to published works in formats such as Braille, large print text and audio books.

The treaty will enter into force after it has been ratified by 20 WIPO members.

Stevie Wonder Speaks at Close of Marrakesh Treaty Negotiations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPG11HGCZNQ&list=PLsm_LOEppJazVkT-dgHlHRI9jGqlqJLBF

Connect with us

Thank you for connecting to LD resources foundation www.ldrfa.org blog. 

 The foundation in 2001 with the goal of giving financially needy college students with LD/ADHD the tools to successfully complete their college education. We provide AT scholarships to those who cannot afford to purchase these technologies on their own.

           You know, as a professional working with this population, more and more students with learning disabilities are graduating from high school and going to college to continue their education. However this population faces many challenges to achieve their dreams of obtaining a diploma.

           The LD Resources Foundation, Inc. is the only grassroots, donor based foundation in the United States to give Assistive Technology tools DIRECTLY to students not only to use for their college studies, but to use in their careers.

This fiscal year was our main focus was to award assistive technology to the 24 students who financially limited.

In the fall we completed our pilot program at Churchill School and awarded technology tools to several of their graduating seniors.  Those students are now using their awards in their first year in college. I continue to provide consulting and technical assistance to the school.

We have expanded outreached to colleges and universities in New York City and around the country and we hope to keep expand our outreach with collaboration with The National Center for Learning Disability.

Please visit  http://www.ldrfa.org/assistive-list.html for our latest list of assistive technology review

The LDRFA.org Resource Center has assembled several sources of information to educate people on the pros and cons of different assistive technology tools. These tools are invaluable, because they assist people with learning disabilities master such important tasks in college as studying for exams, completing reading assignments, taking notes in classes and writing research papers.  People with various disabilities are using assistive technology tools at work,  college, and at home.

We look forward to hearing from you.
Have a Happy 4th of July,

Board of LD Resources Foundation, Inc.

ldrfa.org

1-646-701-0000