Tag Archives: Care

States Decisions to Expand Medicaid under Obama Care Could Have Great Impact on Individuals with Developmental Disabilities

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Charlotte, NC (PRWEB) March 21, 2013

The Medicaid system has long been a foundation of a secure life for individuals with developmental disabilities and Special Needs, and therefore a critical component in Special Needs Planning. This has historically been true due to the fact that these individuals did not have the ability to work full-time, receive benefits, and earn enough income to pay for their basic needs.

The New HealthCare Law, The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obama Care was passed in 2010 and was quickly challenged in the courts as to its constitutionality. The Supreme Court upheld the law, except for one provision which was the expansion to Medicaid, increasing the eligibility to 138% of the poverty level which in 2013 is $ 15,846.20 in annual income. Medicaid expansion as written in The Affordable Care Act would have allowed low-income Americans, including working people with developmental disabilities, to receive affordable, comprehensive health insurance from Medicaid instead of having to purchase health insurance via the private marketplace or through a state or federal health insurance exchange. (The exchanges are still being set up.) This decision by the court means that each state would decide if they would expand Medicaid or not.

The expansion of Medicaid, through the Affordable Care Act, would be paid 100% by the federal government through 2016 for newly eligible citizens, but then drop off incrementally leaving the financial responsibility to the states. It was unclear as to which states would pick up this expansion knowing they would have to shoulder the cost at some point in the future. At this time, 25 states have decided to expand Medicaid, 14 have not, and 11 have not decided.

Ryan Platt, Founder of A Special Needs Plan, comments, If you live in a state that has accepted Medicaid Expansion, please take note of the new income levels. This can be very important in Special Needs Planning providing a comprehensive Life Plan for your loved one. Depending on your loved ones abilities, they may be able to work a bit more, and earn a bit more money, still qualify for Medicaid, and therefore enjoy a better quality of life. Ryan does have a concern, My concern is economic. In the states that expand Medicaid, will they be able to financially support the increased number of Medicaid recipients under this expansion when the federal funding decreases? If they are not, cuts could occur in other areas of their budget including other areas of Health and Human Services which could negatively impact other essential services for those with Special Needs.

Ryan warns families that continuing to plan for the future, reviewing your current Special Needs Plan, and updating it when necessary are a familys best defense against the changes that will inevitably continue to occur in government benefits.

For more information about A Special Needs Plan please call 800-SN9-8610 or email

info(at)aspecialneedsplan(dot)com.

About A Special Needs Plan:

A Special Needs Plan was founded in 2006 as a special needs planning advisory firm. They offer special needs planning educational products, planning consultations to families, as well as educational workshops and seminars for families, organizations, and financial professionals. They are on a Million Family Mission to reach one million families with accurate and credible information, as well as offering advisory services to families across the country. A Special Needs Plan is passionate about helping to alleviate the anxiety surrounding special needs planning and transform that feeling of anxiety into a sense of empowerment, so that families are able to provide for their loved one with special needs, while at the same time provide for the whole family. To learn more visit http://www.aspecialneedsplan.com







BIA Summit on Native Foster Care Urged by Lakota People’s Law Project at Red Nation Film Festival

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Santa Cruz, California (PRWEB) November 20, 2012

During her acceptance of the Humanitarian Service award at the Red Nation Film Festival, Lakota People’s Law Project Executive Director Sara Nelson issued a call to petition the Bureau of Indian Affairs to hold a summit requested by members of Congress last year to investigate the placement of Native children in non-native foster care homes and institutions. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has taken no action to date, despite written requests by four House members from both parties.

Nelson thanked the Red Nation Film Festival for recognizing the incredible amount of work that has been done by many Lakota people and staff in South Dakota, and by interns, volunteers, and legal staff in Santa Cruz.

Nelson also reminded the audience that A lot of money comes in from the Federal Government to pay for the scooping up of Lakota children – 6,000 Lakota children who have been taken during the first eight years of this century.

To date there has been no official inquiry at the state or federal level, despite a clear directive given to the Bureau of Indian Affairs twelve months ago by four members of the House of Representatives serving on committees charged with the oversight of Native American affairs. In a letter to the Department of Interior last October following NPRs Peabody Award-winning Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families, two Democratic congressmen, Ed Markey of the House Natural Resources Committee and Dan Boren of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, demanded action by the BIA. Nothing has been done.

Nelson encouraged the audience to sign the BIA petition which is available at the Lakota Peoples Law Project web site.LakotaLaw.org. The BIA promised one year ago to host a summit on Lakota foster care, but they haven’t done it. We’re pressuring them,” Nelson concluded.

Since 2005, under the leadership of Nelson and Sheehan, the Lakota Peoples Law Project has been partnering with tribes and leaders in South Dakota to challenge more than 150 years of injustice against Native American families. The Lakota Peoples Law project combines public interest law, research, education, and organizing in a unique model for advocacy and social reform.

Photographer and journalist Aaron Huey noted in his acceptance speech that over a period of seven years he had moved from a superficial understanding of the Lakota to an ability to listen and try to allow the Lakota to express themselves directly without filters. Huey’s lead photograph for the feature article in the August 2012 issue of National Geographic, “In the Shadow of Wounded Knee” by Alexandra Fuller, was accompanied by a gallery of his highly acclaimed photographs of the Lakota. The introduction stated, “After 150 years of broken promises, the Oglala Lakota people of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota are nurturing their tribal customs, language, and beliefs. A rare, intimate portrait shows their resilience in the face of hardship.” Huey’s May 2010 talk at the TED conference and stunning slide show “America’s Native Prisoners of War” in Denver, Colorado was a sensation and has had over 600,000 views on YouTube. Huey added his voice to Sheehan and Nelson’s call for action.

Acclaimed artist and activist Shepard Fairey is widely known for his famous campaign poster for president Obama’s 2008 campaign. This summer, Shepard Fairey allowed the use of his now famous “The Black Hills Are Not For Sale” by The Last Real Indians a group of Native activists as part of their campaign to prevent the sale of the sacred Black Hills site at Pe Sla. Fairey’s, an acclaimed and controversial street artist, sees art not only as something to be viewed or experienced but as something to generate action.

Currently, the Lakota Peoples Law Project is concentrating on the Lakota Child Rescue Project, which seeks the return of more than 2,000 Lakota children who have been taken from their homes and placed into white foster care settings by state authorities. The Lakota Peoples Law Project believes that South Dakota’s current practice of taking Lakota foster children into custody and placing 90% of them into non-Indian homes violates the Indian Child Welfare Act. The Lakota People’s Law Project is sponsored by the Romero Institute.

Based in Santa Cruz, California, the non-profit Romero Institute is named after slain human rights advocate Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. The Institute seeks to identify and dismantle the structural sources of injustice and threats to the survival of our human family.







The Obama Health Care Bill Puts the IRS on Steroids with Extra Budget Money and Taxpayers will be Impacted According to Fresh Start Tax LLC

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Miami, FL. (PRWEB) July 03, 2012

Quietly hidden in the agenda of the Health Care Provisions is an additional $ 500 million earmarked for the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) that will allow them to hire additional personnel to enforce compliance, oversee tax laws, and implement the new Health Care Laws. The IRS is also spending millions to modernize their software and computer systems, making it much easier to find tax cheats and non-filers. With additional personnel and better computer systems, more taxpayers will be facing IRS audits, bank levies, wage garnishments, and tax liens.

According to their own 2013 projections, the IRS believes the new personnel hired will generate more than $ 1.48 billion in tax revenue. The report also stated that the IRS will be launching new programs to monitor employment tax, excise, gift and international collections. “Let’s face it”, Sullivan, director of Fresh Start Tax LLC, says, “the bottom line is that the Federal Government needs money to cover our large debt. Now, the IRS has the money and authorization to take action.”

Even Sen. Marco Rubio said Thursday that the Supreme Courts decision to uphold President Barack Obamas health care law means that the IRS will now come after Americans. I hope people back home fully understand what this means, and heres what this means: It is now unlawful for you not to buy health insurance, and if you do not buy it, you have an IRS problem, the Florida Republican said on Fox News. In an interview with CNN’s Candy Crowley, Rubio also stated, If you do not buy health insurance, the IRS is going to be on your back and chasing you. Theyre going to take away your refund, theyre going to increase your fees, theyre going to come after you. This is now turning the IRS into an enforcement mechanism for Obamacare.

Some of the main goals of the IRS, as stated on their “Summary by Appropriations Account and Budget Activity Report”, is to:

1. Improve Voluntary Compliance in the filing of tax returns,

2. Stricter enforcement and collections to ensure everyone meets their tax obligations

3. Ramp up and enforce International Tax Administration

4. Use resources to target high risk areas such as large corporations, international compliance and tax audits for many more taxpayers.

So what is the real bottom line and who will this really effect? Sullivan feels that for the average Joe Taxpayer who receives a simple W-2 and e-Files a simple 1040, this will have no bearing except for an occasional tax audit, but to the rest BEWARE.

Sullivan feels there is no doubt about it and says, “Obama is unleashing the IRS dogs. Now the IRS will be able to act more aggressively in all areas of collections and compliance, especially with the new laws relating to the Health Care Program. We can expect to see a much greater rise in tax audits from the small company to the large corporate giant.”

Fresh Start Tax is a professional tax resolution firm. On staff are Board Certified Tax Attorneys, CPAs, and Former IRS Agents, Managers and Instructors. We have over 206 years of professional tax experience and over 60 years of direct IRS experience. To learn more about Fresh Start Tax, LLC, please visit http://freshstarttax.com or call us at (866)700-1040.