Press ReleaseFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Abrams, Sheri R Receives 2009 Best of Fairfax Award

Best of Fairfax Award Honors Their Achievement

FAIRFAX June 8, 2009 — Abrams, Sheri R has been selected for the 2009 Best of Fairfax Award in the Local Business category.

Each year, The Best of Fairfax Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The Best of Fairfax Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally and data provided by third parties.

About The Best of Fairfax

The Best of Fairfax funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of Best of Fairfax Award is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The Best of Fairfax Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs.

SOURCE: The Best of Fairfax

CONTACT:
The Best of Fairfax
Email: PublicRelations@2009Award.org
URL: http://fairfax.2009award.org

###

Disabilities take many forms, and not all of them affect a person with special needs’ ability to make decisions. In fact, although many, if not most, people with either mental illness or some form of cognitive disability may require significant care, they can still carry out most day-to-day activities. In most cases, people with disabilities have the capacity to create their own estate planning documents, and in some cases it is crucial that they do so.

One scenario that often arises has to do with “HIPAA” regulations. HIPAA, which stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, is the primary federal regulation governing a patient’s private medical information. HIPAA gives a patient the right to manage his/her medical information and regulates who can access that information. Because medical providers must follow HIPAA regulations, it is difficult for caregivers who legitimately need to access another person’s medical records, often in an emergency, to do so without a health care power of attorney that authorizes the information’s release. Under HIPAA, doctors in these situations can disclose medical information to patients’ families, but they are not required to do so without a release from the patient.

Parents of children with special needs often bump into these restrictions for the first time when their child reaches 18 and obtains his/her own right to privacy under HIPAA. If the child is not under guardianship, either because he/she does not require it or because no one has obtained it, it may be hard for a parent to obtain information from a doctor or hospital without some form of HIPAA release from their child. In these cases, it is important for the child to execute a valid health care power of attorney and living will, if they are able to do so. The health care power of attorney and living will not only allows access to medical records, but will also provide that the child’s wishes are carried out if he/she ever requires serious medical care.

Another case for estate planning involves adults with an episodic illness. These adults may be perfectly functional and rational 99 percent of the time, yet they are completely disabled when their illness does strike. Having a functional health care power of attorney and Financial Power of Attorney allows an agent to help a person with an illness manage his/her affairs when necessary, without having to obtain an emergency guardianship when that person falls ill.

Finally, there are people with cognitive disabilities who require assistance only with certain tasks but who are perfectly capable of making estate planning decisions, including the choice of who receives their property.

Attorney Sheri Abrams can help you or your family member create these important documents, and can also recommend additional ways to carry out other important estate planning goals.

The Senate Finance Committee is working on ideas to change the way people become eligible for and utilize the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services Waiver Program.The Medicaid Home and Community Based Services Waiver is a federal program administered by the states, which provides funding for people with disabilities to live in the community and obtain support services. There are currently long waiting lists for this waiver program in many states.

The Senate Finance Committee is creating policy options as part of President Barack Obama’s efforts to reform the American health care system.

The options pertaining to the waiver program include:

• Requiring states to lift their caps on the number of waiver recipients to include more people. Or, prohibiting states from using waiting lists to prevent eligible individuals from accessing services.

• Eliminating a current requirement that in order to obtain funding from the waiver individuals must need an institutional level of care.

• Giving states more latitude to determine income requirements for waiver eligibility.

• Allowing individuals to enroll in multiple Medicaid waivers at one time.

Metro is reminding riders that priority seats located near the center doors of every rail car are meant for people with disabilities and older adults.As part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), public transit authorities are required to make priority seating available for people with disabilities and older adults.

While the ADA requires Metro to provide priority seating, it does not allow Metro to enforce it. Therefore customers are asked to be courteous to fellow passengers, pay attention to their surroundings, and keep priority seats available for people who need them. Metro also is encouraging customers who need a seat to be proactive and ask for one.

For more information about accessibility in the Metro system, visit http://www.wmata.com/accessibility or call 202-962-1100 (TTY 202-962-2033).

By June 4, 2009 more than 52 million stimulus payments of $250 each should have been received by eligible Social Security and Supplement Security Income (SSI) recipients.

If you feel you should have received a payment, and did not, call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) or contact your local Social Security office.

Not everyone receiving Social Security and SSI payments is entitled to the stimulus payment. The following is a list of individuals not entitled to this payment:

Anyone living outside of the United States or its territories;

Individuals who are no longer lawfully present in the United States;

Individuals whose benefits have been suspended under the law for giving false or misleading statements;

Social Security beneficiaries who are minor children (disabled adult children receiving Social Security or children receiving SSI payments will receive the one-time payment);

SSI beneficiaries who receive benefits at a reduced rate of $30 because they live in a medical treatment facility (such as a nursing home or hospital) and Medicaid pays over 50 percent of the cost of their care;

Individuals only entitled to Medicare and not to Social Security or SSI benefits; and

Prisoners, fugitive felons, and probation and parole violators.