The Mid-Atlantic Regional Group
Blinded Veterans Association
Legislative News
June 8, 2009
The Blinded Veterans Association is working and supporting efforts to get members of congress who are now working to get some new health care legislation moved the next eight weeks to include concerns of the various blind associations and agencies.
Below is information today from AFB web site on the three main points being requested.
Vision Loss Community Delivers Powerful Health Care Reform Message to Law MakersFor further information: Mark Richert, Director, Public Policy, American Foundation for the Blind 202-822-0833 mrichert@afb.net
We, the more than 100 undersigned international, national, and community-based organizations representing, serving, and advocating for the more than 20 million Americans of all ages experiencing significant vision loss, urge you to exercise your leadership to ensure that any comprehensive health reform legislation enacted by the 111th Congress adequately addresses the needs and rights of individuals living with vision loss. Specifically, we call upon Congress to send to President Obama legislation that, at a minimum
establishes clear Medicare (or other national minimum benefit plan) coverage for, and fosters broader private plan availability of, low vision devices and other medically necessary assistive technologies; and
allows orientation and mobility specialists, vision rehabilitation therapists, and low vision therapists to be full participants in the professional team providing specialized services to people with vision loss by establishing unambiguous Medicare (or other national minimum benefit plan) reimbursement for the services such professionals offer.
Congress is currently weighing a variety of health care policy options that have the potential to fundamentally transform the scope and delivery of health care to all Americans. While many of these policy options could be of significant benefit to Americans with vision loss, we are concerned that proper attention is not being given in the policy debate to several basic health care needs experienced by people who are blind or visually impaired. We therefore ask for your help to craft and enact policy solutions as part of health care reform to address these unmet needs.
Drug Label Information
Current Law: No state in the
union clearly requires labeling of prescription or other medications to be
accessible to individuals with vision loss through minimum large print font
size, audible labeling technologies, tactile markings or braille, or other
methods calculated to provide alternatives to visual use of medication labeling
and related information. Moreover, current federal law places no meaningful
requirements on such labeling to ensure nonvisual and enhanced visual access.
Additionally, while retail pharmacies can be held accountable for providing some
degree of access to label information under the Americans with Disabilities Act,
the
Proposed Policy: Congress should enact legislation requiring retail pharmacies to offer, upon the request of a customer, nonvisual or enhanced visual means for using medication labeling and related print information safely and independently. The means to accomplish label accessibility must be the means of the customer's choice and conform to national minimum standards to ensure consistency, reliability, and customer privacy.
Low Vision Devices and Other Medically Necessary Assistive Technology
Current Law: Very few private health plans offer customers access to low vision devices or other assistive technologies that maximize remaining usable vision or otherwise provide nonvisual access to information and the environment. Moreover, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) refuse Medicare coverage of any device that employs one or more lenses regardless of a device's other technological features simply on the grounds that devices using lenses fall within the long- standing statutory bar on coverage for eye glasses. Other categories of assistive technology are routinely denied coverage on the grounds that they are convenience items, are not primarily for use in the home, or on other erroneous bases. People with vision loss can use low vision devices and other assistive technologies to manage their health care needs, properly identify medications, maintain proper diet, and ensure safe mobility at home and in community. Along with appropriate rehabilitation services, low vision devices and other assistive technologies prevent injury and the acquiring of additional disabling conditions.
Proposed Policy: Congress must overturn the CMS regulation barring coverage for low vision devices and establish clear criteria for their provision. Such criteria should acknowledge other distinctive features employed by the most valuable low vision devices, other than their mere use of a lens, such as a device's integration of a light source, use of electrical power, or other distinctive features. In addition, Congress must establish clear parameters for CMS to follow to provide Medicare beneficiaries with vision loss access to assistive technologies meeting their unique needs.
Vision Rehabilitation Services
Current Law: Medicare currently pays for some forms of vision rehabilitation services provided under the direct supervision of a physician and offered by an array of state licensed personnel. However, orientation and mobility specialists, vision rehabilitation therapists, and low vision therapists, professionals who are explicitly trained to provide such vision rehabilitation services, are not among the professional disciplines recognized for purposes of Medicare reimbursement. This means that, while the services offered by other professionals--such as occupational and physical therapists--are services provided by personnel who are regularly part of the team of providers offering some limited form of vision rehabilitation addressing, for example, a beneficiary's needs for daily living skills training or other related services, the professional team is incomplete. As a result, beneficiaries are not ensured access to the full range of quality services, such as orientation and mobility, provided by the best qualified professional disciplines. Moreover, since the limited vision rehabilitation-like services that CMS will pay for must be provided under strict physician supervision, these services, which are most relevant when offered in a beneficiary's home or in community, are diminished in effectiveness. Finally, a Medicare demonstration project currently being undertaken to assess vision rehabilitation reimbursement has such significant design and administrative flaws that Congress should not wait for the project's conclusions or have confidence in their validity.
Proposed Policy: Congress must establish unambiguous coverage for the services offered to Medicare beneficiaries by orientation and mobility specialists, vision rehabilitation therapists, and low vision therapists to allow the most qualified and complete team of professional service providers to meet the unique needs of individuals with vision loss. Such services should be allowed to be provided in a beneficiary's home and community to maximize their effectiveness.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration and for your advocacy on behalf of Americans living with vision loss. We look forward to working closely with you as health reform moves forward.
Respectfully,
Academy for Certification of
Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals, National Headquarters,
Accessible Design for the
Blind,
Alphapointe Association for the
Blind,
American Association of the
Deaf-Blind, National Headquarters,
American Council of the Blind,
National Headquarters,
American Council of the Blind
of
American Foundation for the
Blind, National Headquarters,
American Society of Consultant
Pharmacists, National Headquarters,
American Society on Aging,
National Headquarters,
Associates for World Action in
Rehabilitation & Education,
Association for Education and
Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, National Headquarters,
Association for Education and
Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired of
Association for Gerontology and
Human Development in Historically
Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired, Grand Rapids, MI
Association for Vision
Rehabilitation and Employment,
Association of Blind Citizens,
Badger Association of the Blind
and Visually Impaired,
Bay Area Digital,
Blinded Veterans Association,
National Headquarters,
Blind Services Planning
Council,
Braille
Cabell-Wayne Association of the
Blind,
Catholic Charities
Center for Deaf-Blind Persons,
Center for the Partially
Sighted,
Center for the Visually
Impaired,
Central Association for the
Blind and Visually Impaired,
Community Services for the
Blind and Partially Sighted,
Foundation for Blind Children,
Georgia Council of the Blind,
GettingHired.com,
Greater
Guide Dogs for the Blind,
Guiding Eyes for the Blind,
Helen Keller Services for the
Blind,
Hollinger Consulting,
International Association of
Audio Information Services,
Iowa Braille and Sight Saving
School,
Iris Network,
Junior Blind of
Leader Dogs for the Blind,
Lighthouse Central Florida,
LightHouse for the Blind and
Visually Impaired,
Lighthouse for the Blind of
Houston,
Lighthouse for the Blind,
Lighthouse for the Visually
Impaired,
Lighthouse International,
Lighthouse of Broward,
Lighthouse of Pinellas,
Lions Clubs International,
International Headquarters,
MAB Community Services,
National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving People with Blindness or Visual Impairment, National Headquarters, Middleburg Hts., OH
National Association for
Parents of Children with Visual Impairments, National HQ,
National Association of State
Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs, National Headquarters,
National Coalition on
Deaf-Blindness, National Headquarters,
National Federation of the
Blind of
National Industries for the
Blind, National Headquarters,
North Dakota Vision
Services/School for the Blind,
Northwest Suburban Special
Education Organization,
Peninsula Rehabilitation
Services,
Susquehanna Foundation for the
Blind,
The New York Institute for
Special Education,
The Seeing Eye,
Vision & Vocational Services,
Vision Consultants of West
Michigan,
Vision Loss Resources,
VisionServe
VISIONS/Services for the Blind
and Visually Impaired,
Visually Impaired Persons of
Southwest Florida,
Westchester Council of the
Blind,
Prepared June 4, 2009
Blinded Veterans Association will keep everyone updated as things progress on this issue.
Tom Zampieri
Blinded Veterans Association
Director Government Relations
BVA's Legislative Alerts Group
End of Document