Disability Issues

Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) introduced the Special Needs Trust Fairness Act of 2013, a bill that would allow people with disabilities to create first-party special needs trusts to hold their assets without interfering with their access to Supplemental Security Income...

A 29-year-old Virginia woman with Down syndrome is fighting her mother's attempt to obtain guardianship in a case that has drawn attention to the tenuous balance between laws that seek to protect people with special needs while affording them maximum...

A bill that would allow retired military service members to name special needs trusts as beneficiaries of their Survivor Benefit Plans has been reintroduced in Congress.

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka the stimulus bill), Congress has authorized one-time $250 payments to most Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries.

A new bill introduced for the third straight session of Congress hopes to phase out the two year waiting period before SSDI beneficiaries receive Medicare.

A bill that would create tax-deferred savings accounts for people with special needs has been introduced in the House and Senate.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) recently introduced the Community Choice Act in both houses of Congress. If passed, the bill would greatly expand community services and in-home care for people with special needs who qualify...

More states are choosing to expand Medicaid services for people with low-incomes and the Department of Health and Human Services has just released regulations to ensure that people with disabilities will receive the coverage they need from private health insurers.

A bill recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would give people under age 55 access to a program that now helps nursing home-eligible seniors remain in their homes far longer than they might otherwise be able to do.