Developmental/Intellectual Disabilities

To mark the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) and the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) released a memo and report on the status of community living over the past 50 years. The report uses these findings to offer recommendations for improvement of services, access, opportunity, and support for for the next 25 years.

The Federal Transit Administration released a report that examines the accessibility, cost efficiency, and effectiveness of public transit for passengers with disabilities. The report provides an assessment of public transit and offers suggestions for improvements that align with the Americans with Disabilities Act standards. This report uses 12 case studies to analyze the state of current paratransit practices and highlight the most successful models.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report has released new data on prevalence of disability and disability type, from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a state-based health survey. This includes data by state, and data by disability type that is based on functional categories. The main finding showed that "1 in 5 adults or over 53 million" Americans live with a disability.

In honor of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), this annual report focuses on how the ADA and other federal legislation has been implemented by five different state and local agencies. The report examines employment, education, health care, transportation, and housing to demonstrate the importance of the federal legislation and disability advocates. The report also offers recommendations to inform policymakers on changes to be made in the future legislation.

The Medicare Board of Trustees released their annual report to Congress on the financial operations and actuarial status of Medicare on July 22, 2015. The report included a projection indicating that the trust fund will remain solvent until 2030, which is 13 years longer than the 2009 prediction. Medicare covered 53.8 million people last year and the report provides a break down of the expenditures of each individual part of Medicare and its overall cost.

This is an annual report from United Cerebral Palsy that uses a set of key indicators to investigate data and outcomes of the community living standards for individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the United States. The findings from this report can inform policymakers and advocates on improvements and changes to ensure the best quality of life for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The white paper examines the impact that managed care organizations can have on cost and quality of care for older adults and people with disabilities. The National Council on Disability found that MCOs can lower the costs of services for these populations. However, MCOs must face the challenge of training staff on person-centered planning and competency for the quality of care to genuinely increase. This provides an analysis of the positives and negatives of MCOs and where to move from here.

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted a study to examine the policy issue of long term care and its financing. This research investigated the awareness, attitudes, and understanding of long term care by Americans over the age of 40 through three different studies. The studies have explored diverse issues surrounding long term care like the caregiving experience, person-centered care experiences, and opinions on long term care policy.

Mathematica Policy Research published a report examining the relationship between the primary impairments of Social Security disability beneficiaries and the employment and earning experiences of the beneficiaries. The report can inform policymakers on innovative ways to assist beneficiaries in becoming self-sufficient and gaining employment. The researchers found considerable differences in employment and earning across the primary impairments studied.

The UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform and Modernization released a new brief. Many Americans do not have health insurance coverage, and Medicaid enrollment can cover the gap of the uninsured, if successful practices are used. This brief highlights four approaches used in Kentucky and Arkansas to increase enrollment for low-income residents to cut their uninsured populations in half. The solutions in this brief can inform other states on efforts to decrease the number of uninsured people.