AdvocacyGovernor Andrew Cuomo Signs NY Autism Health Insurance bill into Law - 11/8/11National Autism Association NY Metro is pleased to announce that Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the NY Autism Health Insurance reform bill this past Tuesday, November 1st in Albany. There to witness the signing by Governor Cuomo was Katie Wright, NAA NY Metro Board member, her parents Suzanne and Bob Wright, Alexander Smith and his father, Michael Smith, Chairman of F.A.I.R. (Foundation for Autism Information and Research, Inc.),who worked the hardest on this bill, and Katie Weisman, SafeMinds Board member and her triplet boys. John Gilmore, Executive Director of Autism Action Network who also worked diligently on this piece of legislation stated, "It has been a long struggle and this bill moves us a good distance to where we need to be. It will cover ABA and other behavioral therapy, assistive technologies, and prohibits discrimination against people with an autism diagnosis in providing occupational, physical and speech therapies. On the not-so-good side, it has a $45,000 annual cap and does not expand access to necessary therapies." This law is the result of years of work by thousands of people across New York State. This bill was signed because of advocacy efforts from the autism community - phone calls, letters, emails and office visits to legislators and the Governor. This effort was also a result of the collaboration of many autism organizations. Please consider writing your legislators and the Governor to thank them for their work in getting the NY Autism Health Insurance legislation enacted. The law goes into effect on insurance policies and contracts that are "issued, renewed, modified, altered or amended" on or after November 1, 2012, one year after the law went into effect. If an insurance policy or contract is issued or renewed prior to November 1, 2012, the law will not be implied into that insurance policy or contract until it renews (or is otherwise modified, altered or amended), which will likely be a year later, in 2013. Urge Gov. Cuomo to sign the landmark Autism Health Insurance Bill - 6/24/11Support Bills in US Congress: 'The Combating Autism Reauthorization Act of 2011' (S-1094/ HR-2005) - 6/2/11Support Bills in Albany, NY.: Autism Health Insurance Bills. A6305/S4005 - 6/2/11NAA NY Metro Advocates Philosophical ExemptionNAA NY Metro Applauds Legislation Establishing National Institute to Fight Autism EpidemicNew Research Funding Must Target Prevention and Treatment of Fastest Growing Childhood Disorder. View NAA's press release NAA NY Metro Protests NY Regents Decision to Reduce Standard for Speech TherapyThis week the New York Regents voted to reduce New York's speech therapy standards for students with autism to the minimum required by federal law, reversing 20 years of established practice. They also voted to increase the number of students with autism in an inclusion setting from 12 to 14. NAA NY Metro is urging its network to take action and contact the Regents, protesting this move and letting them know that this is not the end of the issue The NAA New York Metro Chapter opposed to Speech Therapy CutsThe New York State Regents, at their meeting next week, are to vote of proposals to repeal the minimum service delivery requirements for speech and language, authorize school districts to add up to two additional students to integrated co-teaching classes and repeal the requirement that each student with autism receive instructional services to meet his/her individual language needs at a minimum of 30 minutes daily in groups not to exceed two, or 60 minutes daily in groups not to exceed six. The NAA New York Metro Chapter has joined many other advocacy groups of children with special needs to oppose these cuts. We have made phone calls and sent letters to the regents expressing our point of view. The children with special needs have serious speech and speech related deficiencies. Early interventions such as speech therapy are essential if these children are to learn and become mainstream. The State's fiscal plight should not deprive these children of the most basic and minimal educational opportunities. The authorities should pay attention to the enormous waste and fluff in the budget of various agencies of the State. The proposed cuts and repealing of the "minimum" standards that currently exist, are absolutely unacceptable. New York Governor David Paterson vetoed Senate Bill S7000b - Oct 20, 2010The bill would have repealed existing anti-discrimination language hard won in 2006, and required that any treatment for autism meet a standard far higher than that required for any other health condition under New York law, or in any other state. "This standard if passed was so onerously high that we could identify no treatments that we were certain would be covered," said Marcia Roth, a Budget and Policy Analyst with the Autism Action Network, "And it would have created a dangerous precedent that could serve as a model for other states." "Costs currently paid by insurers would have been shifted to county and school district taxpayers, said Tom Abinanti, a Westchester County Legislator and Democratic candidate for Assembly in the 69th district (Greenburgh, Pleasantville and parts of Yonkers). The members of the NAA NY Metro are encouraged to call Governor Paterson's office (518-474-8390) to thank him for listening to the families of individuals effected by Autism. We will work together towards a better insurance bill at the next legislative session. NAA NY Metro urges Governor Paterson to veto S7000b, the autism insurance billNAA NYM has called upon the governor to veto the autism insurance bill. The law would severely limit or eliminate coverage for ABA, Physical Therapy, Speech and Occupational Therapy and other necessary treatments for people with autism. The bill imposes an unprecedented, extremely high standard that autism treatments would have to meet prior to approval - a standard that applies to no other health disorder under New York law - and forces all treatments for autism to be approved by a committee of four state agencies - a bureaucratic hurdle required of treatments for no other illness. NAA NY Metro submits comments to OPWDDS - August 23, 2010NAA NYM has submitted comments to the NY State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities on their statewide draft plan for 2010-2014, calling attention to the unique needs of children with autism. See our blog for details. NAA NY Metro urges Governor Paterson to veto S7000b, the autism insurance billNAA NYM has called upon the governor to veto the autism insurance bill. The law would severely limit or eliminate coverage for ABA, Physical Therapy, Speech and Occupational Therapy and other necessary treatments for people with autism. The bill imposes an unprecedented, extremely high standard that autism treatments would have to meet prior to approval - a standard that applies to no other health disorder under New York law - and forces all treatments for autism to be approved by a committee of four state agencies - a bureaucratic hurdle required of treatments for no other illness. We Oppose Assembly bill A10372aN.Y. State Health Committee passes two important billsThe NY Metro Chapter membership is very pleased that the N.Y. State Assembly Health Committee, under the leadership of Assemblyman Richard Gottfried has passed two important pieces of legislation. The bill A880 seeks to strengthen the rule that a child is exempt from school vaccination requirements if the child's health care provider certifies that the vaccination could be harmful to the child, by requiring the school to accept the health care provider's judgment. (A880, Gottfried) The bill A883 (Religious Objections to Vaccination) strengthens the parent's right to have a child exempted from vaccination based on religious belief, by prohibiting the school from rejecting the parent's affidavit of religious belief. (A883, Gottfried) We are in touch with Assemblyman Richard Gottfried's office and as soon as these two bills are ready for vote in the full assembly, we will let our members know. Meanwhile, the membership is encouraged to bring this to the attention of their assemblymen in Albany and seek support in sponsoring, co-sponsoring and by voting in favor when these bills are introduced in the assembly. The Gardasil bill (S4779) was withdrawn from the committeeThe N.Y. Senate bill S4779 (sponsored by Senator Liz Krueger) was withdrawn from being voted on in the Code Committee of the Senate due to the tremendous opposition expressed by our chapter members. The bill calls for young children ( boys and girls of any age) to be vaccinated with Gardasil vaccine without the knowledge and permission of their parents. The autism community in particular and the NY State residents in general, voiced their grave concerns about the children being vaccinated by a school nurse while keeping the parents totally in the dark and not having to seek their permission. The bill in the senate (S4779) and the companion bill (A6702) in the assembly are not dead, yet and could be re-introduced again. We need to be vigilant and express our strong opposition to such bills that take away the rights of the children and their parents as to what is done to their bodies and their right to an informed consent. NAA New York Metro Chapter President Testifies on Mandatory Vaccinations at a Public Hearing of the NY State Assembly- October 13, 2009On October 13, 2009, NAA New York Metro Chapter Chapter President, Sabeeha Rehman, testified at the Public Hearing before representatives of the New York State Assembly with respect to safety concerns related to the H1N1 vaccine, and in opposition to mandatory vaccination of healthcare workers for both the H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines....see blog for full report NAA New York Metro Rallies Against Forced Vaccinations - September 29, 2009 For Rally description visit our blog
Rally For Vaccine Freedom - June 2nd, 2009, Albany , NY10:30 AM Autism Epidemic Day! - Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 In Albany!For details on the event, visit our blog President of NAA-New York Metro Chapter Meets with Assemblymember Brian KavanaghSabeeha Rehman met with Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh on Friday, February 27 to ask for support on the following issues: These issues will raised again at the Autism Epidemic rally in Albany on March 24, 2009. Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) and Mercury ToxicityNAA-NYM has urged the City Councilman to take a leadership role at the Council and State level to address the issue of mercury toxicity related to CFLs. Each bulb has small amount (4mg) of mercury, which raises the issue of disposal and breakage of CFLs, particularly in homes with young children. NAA-NYM has urged that (1) efforts be made to educated citizens about handling breakage of CFLs, (2) urge the lighting industry to provide consumers with a foolproof way to prevent household exposure from broken CFLs or provide safer 'green' alternatives, (3) government mandates to re-design CFLs without mercury; (4) manufacturing of breakage-resistant bulbs; and (5) awareness of additional green energy sources, such as LED lights.
New York State Assembly Bills - call for supportThere are two bills in the New York State Assembly that are making their way from the health committee to the floor of the assembly. The bill A00883 calls for giving the parents the right to refuse vaccination if it is in conflict with their religious beliefs. The other bill, A00880 prohibits the administrative authorities to second guess the judgment of the medical authority such as the child's physician or nurse practitioner regarding the decision to vaccinate or not to vaccinate. The full text of the bills is available on the "Quick bill search" column on the home page of the New York State Assembly website: http://assembly.state.ny.us/ Both the bills have been reported out of the health committee on 01/22/2009 and have been referred for the third reading on the same date. You are encouraged to call the office of your N.Y. State Assembly person and ask them to support these bills when these come up for vote. If you do not know your assembly person, you can find out by entering your address and zip code: http://nymap.elections.state.ny.us/nysboe/ Support for Philosophical Exemption;Oppose Mandating All Vaccines Recommended by the CDCOn June 9, NAA NY Metro chapter reached out to its community, asking that people call their New York State legislators to oppose the bill mandating all vaccines recommended by the CDC (A10942); and request passage of the bill that would give individuals a right to a philosophical exemption from vaccine mandates (A5468/S3031). It was also requested that the President of the Senate be called, asking not to draft a companion bill to Assembly Bill A10942. Contact information for the legislators was provided, as well as suggested talking points. Support for Capacity Assessment & Service Delivery Needs - OMMRDOn June 11, upon request from the NYS Minority Council's office, the NAA NY Metro, in collaboration with NAA, provided its position on Assembly Bill 11275. The bill call for the commissioner of the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities to report to the legislature regarding services to persons with autism spectrum disorder, on the OMRDD's current capabilities and future service delivery needs for person with autism. It requires the report to be submitted to the legislature within one year of the effective date, and is effective immediately. The following was presented as NAA position: "We support this bill and are pleased to know that an initiative is being undertaken to address capacity issues within the OMRRD. However, we believe that one year is too long a period for this assessment. As the need is so urgent, we believe the initiative should be fast-tracked. We would also like to see a collaborative effort in the development of this report with associations such as the National Autism Association and similar advocacy groups, who should be consulted in the capacity assessment in outlining future service delivery needs. We hope that this bill sets a precedent for other departments that provide services for persons with autism. Since autism is a spectrum of disorders that can include mental retardation and developmental limitations, we would like to see a similar bill introduced for the Department of Education to address the range of capacity issues in the education system." |
What's Happening
NY State Assembly contact information
|
