NYAIL News 2022, Issue 10
Advocacy Updates, Upcoming Webinars, Voter Information, and More
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The New York Association on Independent Living (NYAIL) sent a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul highlighting our budget priorities for next year. The letter addresses our concerns for more funding for Independent Living, housing, transportation, home care, Medicaid, and much more.
We expect the Governor to share budget priorities via the Executive Budget in January and will respond with our final Budget Disability Priority Agenda (DPA) for 2023, as we do every year. Below is a summary of our priorities from the letter we sent.
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New in 2023! Expand Eligibility to the Medicaid Buy-in Program for working people with disabilities. New York’s Medicaid Buy-in for Working People with Disabilities program allows them to keep their Medicaid while working full or part-time. If someone turns 65 while working and is utilizing the buy-in they lose their Medicaid through the program. People are working longer and should not lose their eligibility simply because they are still working at age 65. NYAIL would also like to remove the asset limit for the Medicaid Buy-In program. Currently, the asset limit is $20,000 if single and $30,000 if married. New York has the opportunity to lead the nation by making Medicaid a more equitable program for all, while also removing a disability marriage penalty.
- Increasing the base funding for Independent Living to $18 million.
- Increasing the home care worker wage to 150% of the state’s minimum wage by adopting #FairPay4Homecare.
- Repeal Medicaid cuts to eligibility, related to ADLs.
- Increase the State’s share of funding for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program to $15 million.
- Increase funding for Access to Home to $10 million.
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The collective work between NYAIL and its member ILCs is not possible without our committees: Education, Election Reform, Employment, Health, Housing, and Transportation.
Committees consist of Executive Directors, ILC staff, and other advocates. As you saw both in the summary of our budget priorities and the full letter we have a lot of work to do and we need your help. Learn more and sign up for a committee at this link. Interested individuals will be matched to a committee and we can't always guarantee membership will be open to every committee.
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Getting Ready for Election Day: Tuesday, November 8 |
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The 2022 election in New York has key races on the ballot for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Senator, and Attorney General. All NYS Assembly and Senate seats are also up for grabs. The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) created voter guides for each state. Click on the voter hub and scroll down to “NY” which will allow you to download the accessible .pdf guide.
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NYAIL's 2022 Webinar Series |
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Supportive Decision Making
On October 25 we were scheduled to host a webinar on Supportive Decision-Making (SDM). Due to one of the presenters becoming ill the webinar was rescheduled. At this time we do not have a new date; however, once it is finalized we will let you know.
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Join us for NYAIL's November webinar on the Managed Long-Term Care Data Transparency Project.
On November 9th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The Managed Long-Term Care Data Transparency Project makes public important data showing how New York State's Medicaid Managed Long-Term Care plans spend billions of Medicaid dollars to provide long-term care services that enable New Yorkers with disabilities of all ages to live safely in the community.
Nearly 300,000 New Yorkers depend on Medicaid home care services from Medicaid Managed Long-Term Care (MLTC) plans. While New York State makes some MLTC data public, there is a huge gap that this project aims to fill by posting selected data from Managed Medicaid Cost and Operating Reports (MMCOR) Reports, obtained from 2017 and 2018 reports. The Managed Long-Term Care Data Transparency Project presents selected MMCOR data in four interactive, downloadable visualizations, with a fifth visualization showing changes over time in enrollment in each MLTC plan.
ASL and captioning will be available for this webinar. Our webinar series is sponsored by Waymo.
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Thank you to our NYAIL 2022 Webinar Series sponsor Waymo! |
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Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they’re going. We believe that fully autonomous technology holds the promise to improve road safety and offer new mobility options to millions of people. This is why we're designing the Waymo Driver, our autonomous technology, to give people a new kind of freedom – to go where they want, when they want, while making the frustrations and concerns with driving a thing of the past. |
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New York State hosted the first Disability Rights and Employment Awareness Month or DREAM in October. Many ILCs were there in Albany to speak about what they do. Providing a variety of opportunities for people with disabilities as consumers and employees. |
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If you couldn't make it to Albany to see the DREAM Disability History Exhibit, check out the short video we took.
The video shows several posters highlighting moments, laws, and people that are a part of disability history in New York. Former Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt's wheelchair is the centerpiece of the exhibit.
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A few of the ILCs in attendance during the DREAM event in Albany. |
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We weren't able to get pictures with every ILC in attendance between the packed day with multiple sessions and speakers. Thank you to everyone who attended and we'll see you soon! |
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The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) published caregiver guides to assist caregivers whether they are just starting out or are looking for ways to protect their physical, mental, or financial well-being. The guides can be downloaded from the website or print copies can be requested for free. For more information about the guides click here. |
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What a better way to end our newsletter by celebrating the promotion of Lesley Kelder as the new Statewide Transition Specialist Liaison! In this role Lesley will be providing regional oversight to the ILCs and all statewide Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) transitions. Prior to the promotion Lesley worked as our Statewide Peer/Transition Specialist. Please join us in wishing Lesley all the best in this new position. |
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NYAIL administers several statewide and regional programs in collaboration with its member ILCs, all of which are focused on helping people with disabilities live independently in the community.
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Share this NYAIL Newsletter using the buttons below. |
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Lindsay Miller
Executive Director
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Alex Thompson
Director of Advocacy
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Blaise Bryant
Communications Specialist
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New York Association on Independent Living
155 Washington Ave., Suite 208
Albany, NY 12210
Phone 518.465.4650 Fax 518.465.4625
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