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February 7, 2006 #2
ASSEMBLY AND SENATE OVERRIDE GOVERNOR’S VETO OF BILL TO COVER MEDICATIONS FOR DUAL ELIGIBLES: In a rare display of the Legislature moving to create a law over the objection of the Governor, today the Senate joined the Assembly in overriding the Governor’s veto of legislation (A.9462 / S.6410) that will provide a safety net for dual eligible individuals having difficulty accessing medications under Medicare Part D. This bill will extend Medicaid coverage for medications that dual eligibles have had difficulty accessing through their Medicare Part D plan until a point at which the Commissioner of the Department of Health certifies that the emergency situation created by the implementation of Medicare Part D is over. This demonstrates the immense pressure that the Legislature is under to address this situation and is a testament to the power that weighing in with your legislators has in terms of impacting outcomes. Thanks to all who contacted their elected representatives. While we are pleased that such coverage is available to dual eligibles at least for the foreseeable future, we continue to advocate for legislation to address the difficulties dual eligibles are facing with regard to the mandatory co-payments associated with drug access under Part D. For many with very limited incomes, coming up with $3 co-pays for several medications represents a true barrier to accessing these drugs that did not exist under Medicaid. We continue to urge the state to try to find a mechanism to help those dual eligibles who are unable to afford these co-pays access the medications that keep them healthy and stable.
LEGISLATURE CONVENES CONFERENCE COMMITTEE TO ADDRESS CIVIL CONFINEMENT OF SEXUAL OFFENDERS: At 4:00 on Monday, representatives from the Senate and Assembly gathered to address the differences in legislation passed by each house that would permit the civil confinement of sexual offenders. Co-chaired by Assemblymember Joe Lentol (D-Brooklyn) and Senator Dale Volker (R-Depew (near Buffalo)), the committee met long enough for all members to make opening remarks before adjourning to allow their respective counsels to meet in preparation for a second meeting on Wednesday. At the conference committee, varying opinions were voiced about civil confinement, but all comments were made in a tone of cooperation. Interesting were the comments of Senator Volker who specifically addressed the concerns raised by MHANYS and other mental health advocates about the safety of patients at psychiatric centers and the sapping of resources from programs for people with mental health needs which could instead be allocated to treat sexual offenders. We were pleased that Senator Volker articulated his belief that neither the populations of people (patients at psychiatric centers and sexual offenders) nor the funding (for mental health programs vs. programs for sexual offenders) should be mingled. Nonetheless, MHANYS continues to contend that placing sexual offenders into psychiatric centers or other mental health programs is a misuse of the state’s mental health system. We believe that better alternatives exist, perhaps through the establishment of a separate state agency specifically dedicated to the prevention of sexual offense, to address this societal problem in a safer, more effective and comprehensive manner.
IN THE NEWS: Mental
Health Workers Seek More Funds. By Joseph Gerace Mental health workers and advocates are asking Gov. George E. Pataki and the Legislature to give mental health services a $10 million emergency allocation and a permanent cost of living adjustment increase. During a press conference in the Legislative Office Building last Tuesday, representatives of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, mental health service employees and members of various psychiatric support clinics from around New York voiced their objections to Patakis Executive Budget proposal. They questioned how prudent it would be for the state to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to confine sex offenders once they have finished their jail sentences when providers of mental health services are left holding out their hands. The governor has proposed in his 2006-2007 Executive Budget a two-and-a-half-year, 2.5 percent COLA increase in order to boost the recruitment and retention of mental health providers and assist with such inflationary costs such as liability and health insurance, energy bills and rent. That COLA calibration would supply $35 million to eligible mental health service provides by the end of 2008. Additionally, $6.5 million is included in the Executive Budget to help cover the rent of more than 10,000 beds in state psychiatric hospitals. But the governor also included $192 million of the new money in the budget for his push for the statewide civil confinement of sex offenders, which has some mental health advocates wondering where their money is. "We're in an environment where state government has found almost $200 million in mental health money to serve sex offenders who do not have a mental illness," said Harvey Rosenthal the executive director of NYAPRS, "and yet we have not been able to find how to get money, even one fourth of that, to support people who really do have a mental illness here in New York." The advocates said the temporary COLA increase is a start, however more funding is necessary if mental health service providers are to pull themselves out of what John Javis of the Mental Health Association in Nassau County calls a "state of crisis." Javis, who has run a Clubhouse program in Nassau County since 1994, said he has cut staff members, discontinued certain activities, reduced the hours his program is open and experienced gaps in hiring due to competitive salaries, all thanks to cuts and flat budgets over the past few years. Now that the governor has called for a COLA increase, Javis expects to see little immediate change. He'll have to wait at least three years to receive the full impact of the governor's COLA increase. The cost of living adjustment would be cumulative over a period of two and a half years starting Oct. 1, when the approximate amount of funding going to these types of programs will increase from $100 million to approximately $101.3 million. The following two years, the full 2.5 percent increase will be added on to that amount twice cumulatively, and providers will see an even greater increase in their state allocation. By the end of the 2008-2009 fiscal year, their budget will be approximately $106,375,781. But the employees who run these psychiatric community centers that are funded through state grants are worried that the infusion of $1.25 million during the last quarter of this year will be too little, too late. "With the 2.5 percent I'll get this year," said Javis, "I'll still probably have to cut one or two of my evening recreation programs." Rosenthal agrees the COLA increase is a welcome first step, but many clinics, and subsequently their patients, may not be able to make it through the first year without proper upfront funding. "How programs have been able to stay open through 10 years of flat budgets or cuts with little bits of state money is a tribute to their ingenuity and commitment," Rosenthal said. "But, they have run out of ingenuity and they've run out of resourcefulness." While in Albany, NYAPRS spoke with the Senate and Assembly programming and fiscal staff, legislative leaders and legislative committee chairs. According to Rosenthal, the troupe felt encouraged, well understood and well received by the officials with whom they had spoken.
A similar article to the one that follows was also published in the Ithaca Journal Lawmakers
close in on predator bill. ALBANY — State senators and Assembly members, meeting together in public to try to agree on a bill to keep violent sexual predators confined after they have completed their prison terms, admitted Monday that they face a tough task. In the wake of the murder last summer of a woman in a White Plains parking garage by a convicted sexual predator, both houses of the Legislature have passed bills allowing them to be held even after their prison terms. "Phillip Grant is the perfect example of the need for civil confinement," said Sen. Nicholas Spano, R-Yonkers, referring to the killer of Connie Russo Carriero, the 56-year-old legal secretary who was attacked while walking to her car in July. The decision legislators make could have big impacts on the Mohawk Valley. Almost 700 state jobs could be created at two Marcy sites to house violent sex offenders. But the Senate and Assembly bills aren't identical, which they have to be to become law. In general, the Senate bill calls for tougher treatment of the predators, while the Assembly's has more protections for those who have finished their prison terms. "Our prime responsibility is to protect the innocent. Our secondary responsibility is to protect the guilty," said Sen. Dale Volker, R-Lancaster, Erie County. But a Democrat expressed a different view. "I understand we have to make sure that those who shouldn't get out never get out," said Sen. Thomas Duane, D-Manhattan. "But we also have to make sure that somebody isn't kept forever who doesn't pose a threat." Traditionally, differences in similar bills are hammered out behind closed doors, but occasionally a committee is appointed to meet in public, such as the one convened Monday. There was no attempt to resolve any differences in public Monday, with each of the members just making a short speech. Volker said the 10-member panel will meet again Wednesday. They have until July 16 to either strike a deal or admit they can't. Last fall, Gov. George Pataki started to use his own authority to place 39 men deemed to be threats even though they had finished their prison terms in two New York City psychiatric centers and Central New York Forensic Psychiatric Center and on the grounds of the Mid-State Correctional Facility, both in Marcy. A court ordered them released, but the state is appealing and in the meantime the men are still confined. In his budget, Pataki proposed spending $130 million to raze a prison in Pharsalia, Chenango County, and build a compound to house up to 500 sex offenders who have already served their sentences. The passage of a bill would give the state the clear legal right to detain what it deems to be dangerous sex offenders. Some of the differences in the Assembly and Senate bills:
Fresh
problems await some in new Medicare drug plan. By Candice
Choi ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- After two harrowing weeks, Barbara Olson was finally able to navigate the new Medicare drug plan to obtain the 41 medications to treat her son's muscular dystrophy. "We seem to be OK for now - until they throw us another clink," said Olson, a 76-year-old Schenectady resident. A fresh round of confusion could await Olson and hundreds of thousands across New York state if a safety net that provides medications is taken away. Right now, the "wraparound" plan covers any drugs those eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare are unable to obtain through their new federal drug plans. Gov. George Pataki in his budget last month proposed ending that wraparound by July 1 and on Friday vetoed a bill that would have kept it in place until Health Commissioner Antonia Novello deemed it no longer necessary. According to Pataki's Budget Division, ending the wraparound would save the state $216 million. The governor contends the kinks in Part D should be worked out by July, negating the need for the wraparound. Critics say the move will permanently abandon hundreds of thousands of the state's most vulnerable population. It's a glitch in the new drug plan they say will persist beyond the initial confusion surrounding the plan's implementation that has captured media attention. "There are so many holes in the Medicare drug benefit, that New York state for a long time has promised to continue to provide this wraparound coverage," said Amy Button of the New York State Senior Action Council. Elderly people who are chronically ill sometimes take up to a dozen medications and finding plans in the new Medicare drug plan that cover all their medications might not be possible, Button said. "Everyone at some point is going to have a prescription that their Part D plan doesn't cover - unless they're perfectly healthy," said Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat and chair of the Assembly Health Committee. Several states including Massachusetts, California and Illinois are moving toward enacting permanent wraparounds, said Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center in New York. "Humanitarian concerns aside, states are going to start learning pretty quickly that it's going to cost a lot when Medicaid patients start showing up in emergency rooms," he said. Nationally, Hayes said about 3 million people may not be able to find a Medicare drug plan that covers all their medications. The wraparound is separate from the emergency measure enacted by Pataki last month and specifically works to provide those eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare any drugs they cannot obtain through the new federal drug plan. There are 570,000 senior citizens who are eligible for the wraparound benefit right now. "That means the state's poorest seniors will have to pick up the tab for $216 million in prescription drugs," Gottfried said . They represent the state's most vulnerable population, as they qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare, said Michael Burgess of the New York State Alliance for Retired Americans. These seniors often have chronic and complex illnesses requiring a host of different medications, he said. The irony is that the state's wraparound would remain in place for EPIC enrollees. That program is for seniors who cannot afford prescription drugs, but earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. "So those we're punishing would be the poorest and least able to pay for prescription drugs," said Gottfried, who is drafting legislation that would allow dual eligibles to apply for EPIC enrollment. Bill Ferris, legislative representative for the AARP, said the group opposes the end of the wraparound, let alone at such an early date. Under Pataki's proposal, select drugs like antidepressants and anti-psychotics would remain available after the wraparound ended.
Legislature
overrides Pataki veto of Medicare safety net. ALBANY, N.Y. The state Legislature Tuesday unanimously voted to override Gov. George Pataki's veto of a bill that would have indefinitely provided a safety net for New Yorkers unable to get their medication through the new Medicare drug plan. The Senate voted Tuesday to override the veto. The Assembly voted Monday. The "wraparound" program in New York state covers any prescription drugs for the disabled and low-income seniors when they are unable to obtain them through the new federal drug plan, known as Part D. Under the bill, that safety net would remain in place indefinitely until the state health commissioner deemed it no longer necessary. Pataki, who is proposing to end the wraparound July 1 in his budget, said the bill wasn't necessary because implementation problems surrounding the drug plan should be worked out by then. After the deadline, Pataki promised to take additional measures if problems still existed. Pataki, a Republican, enacted a temporary measure Jan. 13 directing the state Health Department to allow access to the drugs for seniors eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. State Health Commissioner Antonia Novello on Tuesday said the wraparound had cost the state $68 million in January alone. |
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