DREDF’s Comments on CMS Proposals

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July 5, 2016
DREDF supports CMS proposals to include Promoting Health Equity and Continuity, and Social and Community Involvement as Clinical Practice Improvement Activity performance categories related to rewarding eligible practitioners who work to improve and maintain high quality care for people with disabilities. However, we question why the proposed rule fails to immediately adopt the subcategory of promoting health equity, which explicitly includes "maintaining adequate equipment and other accommodations."

NFB and Disability Advocates Charge Federal Health Agency With Civil Rights Violations

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February 10, 2016
(Springfield, MA, February 10, 2016): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and individual plaintiffs Juan Figueroa, Derek Manners, and Martti Mallinen announced the filing of a major federal lawsuit today in U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, Western Division. The lawsuit charges the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through its sub-agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and its CMS sub-contractors, with systemically violating the civil rights of blind Medicare recipients.

Juan Figueroa, Derek Manners, Martti Mallinan, and The National Federation of the Blind v. US Department of Health and Human Services

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February 10, 2016
The lawsuit filed today by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and individual plaintiffs charges the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through its sub-agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and its CMS sub-contractors, with systemically violating the civil rights of blind Medicare recipients. The complaint details how, 40 years after the federal Rehabilitation Act and a the growth of a new world of technology, blind people are still forced to -- among other long-outmoded practices -- rely on others to read inaccessible materials, and to disclose private personal and financial information to sighted third parties. [...]

Federal Marketplace Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2017

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January 15, 2016
DREDF commented on a large set of proposed regulations issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) shortly before the holidays. The draft regulations concerned Benefit and Payment Parameters for qualified health plans in the federal marketplace in 2017. In our comments, DREDF highlighted concerns with QHP's coverage of rehabilitative devices and durable medical equipment as rehabilitative benefits, and ongoing shortfalls in network adequacy standards with respect to physical and programmatic accessibility.

Comments on Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2016

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December 26, 2014
DREDF submitted comments on HHS proposed rules affecting implementation of portions of the Affordable Care Act that directly affect people with disabilities. In addition to supporting comments submitted by the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), we urged HHS to issue comprehensive language access standards and technical support for navigator and non-navigator assistance personnel to ensure that people with communication disabilities have equal access to the Health Insurance Marketplace.

NPRM Posed Regulatory Changes to Medicare (Part D) and (Part C)

March 7, 2014
DREDF submitted comments to a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) posted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The NPRM posed regulatory changes to the operation of the Medicare prescription drug program (Part D) and the Medicare managed care program (Part C). DREDF supported some aspects of the NPRM which called for greater consumer protections and increased oversight of, and accountability from, managed care plans who have Medicare beneficiaries. At the same time...