WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Amputee Coalition of America and the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association today announced that Senators Tom Harkin and Olympia J. Snowe and Representatives Robert E. Andrews, George Miller, and Lincoln Diaz-Balart are recipients of their joint organizations' 2009 Legislative Appreciation Awards.
The awards are being presented today at a mini-Hill Day event, with more than 40 amputees and advocates from around the country also visiting Capitol Hill to make specific recommendations to Congress for the inclusion of prosthetic arms and legs in the national healthcare reform legislation.
"For their commitment, dedication and service to ensuring quality healthcare for amputees and their effort to make certain that fair insurance coverage is available for prosthetic arms and legs, we are proud to present these awards as a token of our appreciation to these members of Congress," said Kendra Calhoun, Amputee Coalition president and CEO. Calhoun emphasized that healthcare for amputees needs fair consideration in any healthcare reform proposal. "Amputees are no longer a hidden part of our society, and they need to be heard in the healthcare debate. This is the message they will carry to Capitol Hill today."
The Amputee Coalition and other disability groups have heralded the inclusion in the healthcare reform bills of guaranteed issue and renewal of coverage in the individual and small group markets, the prohibition of pre-existing health condition exclusions, and the end of annual and lifetime insurance caps, with a limit on out-of-pocket spending. According to Calhoun, amputees also want a guarantee that they will have fair access to arms and legs.
In May, Rep. Robert E. Andrews introduced the "Prosthetic and Custom Orthotic Parity Act of 2009" (H.R. 2575), which would require employer-paid health plans to provide coverage for prosthetic and custom-fabricated orthotic devices on par with the coverage offered for other medical and surgical services. Sens. Harkin and Snowe co-sponsored a similar prosthetic parity bill in the Senate in 2008 and are working on introducing a new one this year. Reps. Miller and Diaz-Balart also signed onto the House bill as lead sponsors.
"At a time when healthcare costs are rising by about 7 percent annually, the financial hardship on those in need of prosthetic devices is devastating," said Rep. Andrews. "Yet, by expanding coverage for prosthetic devices so that it is on par with other types of essential care, not only will amputees receive necessary treatment and experience better quality of life, but the healthcare industry as a whole will save money. Since prosthetics often dramatically decrease secondary health problems for those in need, the benefits of this coverage far outweigh the costs in the long run."
Though 17 states have passed similar prosthetic parity laws, amputee advocates still say that there needs to be a national law.
"These state laws have helped many people," said Tom Fise, American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association executive director, "but they are not enough. Without a federal law, there will always be amputees who fall through the cracks."
The awards ceremony for House members will be held at 9 a.m. today in the Rayburn House Office Building (Room B-318). The ceremony for Senate members will be held at noon in the Capitol Visitor Center (Room SVC 214).
About the Amputee Coalition of America The Amputee Coalition is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is "to reach out to and empower people affected by limb loss to achieve their full potential through education, support and advocacy, and to promote limb loss prevention." The organization is based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and has an advocacy staff in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit the Amputee Coalition's prosthetic parity Web page at www.armsandlegsarenotaluxury.com or call 888/267-5669.
About the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (AOPA) AOPA, based in Alexandria, Virginia, is the largest nonprofit organization dedicated to helping orthotic and prosthetic businesses and professionals navigate the multitude of issues surrounding the delivery of quality patient care. This year, the association celebrates the 92nd anniversary of its founding in 1917, when the needs of returning veterans in the aftermath of World War I required a national organization to address the educational and research needs of the industry. For more information, visit the AOPA Web site at www.aopanet.org or call 571/431-0876.
SOURCE The American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association
The Jordan Thomas Foundation announced that the new position of director will be held by Janet Kelley Jobe beginning July 1.
Ms. Jobe brings an extensive background of successful fundraising
for non-profits to the foundation. She will be responsible for
administrative management, public relations, marketing, and fund
development for the foundation.
In addition to active involvement in community activities, Janet
serves on numerous boards including the Moccasin Bend Girl Scouts
Council and the Association of Fundraising Professionals, recently as
past-president, as well as past member of YMCA Camp Ocoee Board.
BREAKING NEWS!The
ACA is excited to announce that with the help of our dedicated local
activists, the Connecticut legislature passed prosthetic parity without
caps or exemptions! This makes Connecticut the 18th state, and 7th this year to pass parity legislation!
The
bill will make sure that insurance companies that are regulated at the
state level will be required to cover prosthetics that are deemed
medically necessary by a treating physician on at least equivalent to
the coverage under Medicare standards.
The prosthetic parity language was amended into HB 5021. The House passed the bill on May 28th by a vote of 98 to 49.The Senate
passed the bill on June 3 by a vote of 25 to 11. The bill will now
move to Governor Rell's desk to await her action.She has two weeks to sign it or it will go into effect without her action.
The Prosthetic & Orthotic Act of
2009 was introduced in the House on May 21, 2009. H.R. 2575 will ensure amputees get the healthcare they need to live active, independent lives.
This 30 SPF sunscreen is Aloe and Vitamin E enriched while being PABA free, Alcohol Free, Mineral Free and Fragrance Free. It provides a UVB/UVA broadspectrum protection, is non-greasy and designed for an active lifestyle.
100% of the net proceeds from sales of this 30 SPF sunscreen product benefit the Cancer for College scholarship fund. ACTIVE INGREDIENTS Homosalate @ 8%, Oxybenzone @5%, Octisalate @4%, Avobenzone @ 3%, Octocrylene @ 2.4%
Ability Prosthetics and Orthotics has teamed up with Physicians for Peace.
Their goal is to collect old prosthetic parts and ship them overseas so that more amputees will have greater access.
It's a project that's not only benefiting those abroad; it's also helping the people who donate.
Shake-A-Leg
Miami, a community-based aquatic activities center serving
able-bodied individuals as well as those with physical, developmental,
and economic challenges, will host Miami’s first-ever No
Barriers Festival, a festival where interaction, innovation and
inspiration help shift the paradigm of possibility,June 4–7,
2009 at the Shake-A-Leg MiamiSea Base in Coconut Grove.
The No Barriers Festival, now in its fourth year, is a unique,
international multi-day event that combines land and water-based
adaptive sports with cutting-edge techniques and technologies that
enable people with challenges to live as actively as possible and to
break through their own personal barriers. The four-day Festival of
symposiums, clinics and innovations will strive to replace recurring
perceptions about disability and personal challenges, with a renewed
belief in what is and what will be possible.
He's leaning forward to look down the length of the long, glass covered
table, resting his cheek on his right wrist, where the doctors had to
cut off his hand three years ago.
Three seats down, a man from Allentown with a prosthetic arm is telling
one of Sen. Arlen Specter's aides how he will lose his temporary health
insurance in a few months and how that will make it even harder to get
the replacement arm he needs. I've got a letter, the man tells the
aide, that I'm giving to every lawmaker we meet today.
Sean looks around Specter's conference room inside the Senate's Hart
office building, at the deep leather swivel chairs, at the chart
dissecting President Clinton's 1993 healthcare proposal blown up mural
size, at the senator's staff members, at the other amputees, at the
doctors.
He shifts the spearmint gum from the right side of this jaw to the
left. Twelve-years-old for more two more days, he wears a tropical
print shirt, Steelers sneakers and star-pattern covers over his
prosthetic legs....READ MORE
The Las Vegas Sun's Stephanie Tavares
reports on important changes in federal anti-discrimination law, of
which employers must be aware. Congress passed amendments to the
Americans with Disabilities Act, which went into effect January 1.
The legislative and regulatory changes went into effect Jan. 1.
They are expected to make it easier for employees to be classified as
disabled.
The changes are expected to have a significant effect on human
resources departments of businesses with more than 15 employees across
the country.
Among those with restored rights are those with a disability that is
episodic or in remission, such as seizures. Courts had ruled to exclude
people with these types of disabilities.
It also restores protection to those with disabilities who take
advantage of corrective measures such as prosthesis, medication,
mobility devices, hearing aids, oxygen therapy, assistive technology or
those whose bodies or brains have adjusted to compensate for the
disability.
The act basically redefines how a person with a disability is defined.
Although the specific criterion is still being worked out by the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, the legal community considers it
likely the law will be applied similarly to state anti-discrimination
laws in California, where disability is defined as something that makes
it difficult to perform certain life activities.
McQuade was born without one hand and one foot, and now,
thanks to the Shriners' hospital in Tampa, puts his prosthetics to the test on
rock climbing walls and the basketball court.