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Archive for November, 2020

Affordable care act

Monday, November 23rd, 2020

published in the Republican November 2020

This month, the U.S. Supreme Court held oral argument in a case challenging the Affordable Care Act. The case, California v. Texas, claims that the law’s individual mandate requiring people to buy health insurance is unconstitutional. There are nineteen different disability advocacy groups that filed a brief in the Supreme Court arguing that striking down the law would endanger the health of disabled individuals. Some organizations that joined the brief are the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, the Arc, the National Disability Rights Network and the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. The Act has greatly increased opportunities for people to gain health insurance. It also protects people from being denied coverage because of preexisting conditions. In addition, it guarantees services for mental illness, home health care and bans discrimination. The brief stated, “By including these provisions, Congress intentionally sought to benefit people with disabilities. It would not have wanted to sacrifice all of these protections merely because the minimum-coverage provision were declared invalid.” Even though a decision in the case is not expected until next year, several of the Supreme Court Justices are showing signs of supporting the Affordable Care Act. At the hearing, Justice Kavanaugh said, “I tend to agree with you that it’s a very straightforward case for severability under our precedents, meaning that we would excise the mandate and leave the rest of the act in place.”

Hopeful future

Tuesday, November 10th, 2020

Published in the Republican November 2020

At the beginning of the month, the whole nation waited with bated breath to see who won the presidential election.  Votes trickled in slowly over days until CNN and the Associated Press projected Joe Biden as the winner.  We also saw history in the making by the election of the first black and Asian woman as the Vice President in Kamala Harris.

Following the announcement, the President-elect spoke to the nation, saying, “We must make the promise of the country real for everybody – no matter their race, their ethnicity, their faith, their identity or their disability.”  In previous speeches, Joe Biden has said he is committed to increasing Social SecuritySupplemental Income benefits, full funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, providing support for direct care workers and family caregivers.

Julia Bascom, the executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, said, “President-elect Biden has made many concrete commitments to the disability community, including strengthening and expanding home- and community-based services, ending subminimum wage and promoting supported decision-making.”

Over the next couple of years, I will choose to pray with love and hope that we can come together to bring about positive change in peace, love and happiness.