Data from the U.S. Census is used to assign congressional seats to states, and it directly affects how more than $400 billion per year in federal funding is distributed to state, local and tribal governments. Accurate counts impact several important programs and services that are critical to the disabled community.

Here is what the census means for people with a disability:

* Helps state and county agencies plan for eligible recipients under the Medicare, Medicaid,and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs.

* Distributes funds and develops programs for people with disabilities and the elderly under the Rehabilitation Act.

* Distributes funds for housing for people with disabilities under the Housing and Urban Development Act.

* Allocates funds for mass transit systems to provide facilities for people with disabilities under the Federal Transit Act.

* Awards federal grants, under the Older Americans Act, based on the number of elderly people with physical and mental disabilities.

* Allocates funds to states and local areas for employment and job training programs for veterans and disabled veterans under the Job Training Partnership Act, Disabled Veterans Outreach Program.

* Ensures that comparable public transportation services are available for all segments of the population under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Associated Press – The Social Security Administration makes it official Thursday: There will be no cost of living increase for Social Security recipients next year, the first year without one since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975.

The announcement comes as President Barack Obama and key members of Congress call for a second round of $250 payments to more than 50 million seniors, veterans, retired railroad workers and people with disabilities.

The payments would be equal to about a 2 percent increase for the average Social Security recipient. The cost: $13 billion.

Obama called on Congress Wednesday to approve the payments, and several key members of Congress said they would.

“This additional assistance will be especially important in the coming months, as countless seniors and others have seen their retirement accounts and home values decline as a result of this economic crisis,” Obama said in a statement.

Blame falling consumer prices for no automatic increase next year. By law, Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is pegged to inflation, which was negative this year, due largely to falling energy costs.

The $250 payments would go to Social Security recipients as well as those receiving veterans benefits or disability benefits, railroad retirees and retired public employees who don’t receive Social Security. Recipients would be limited to one payment, even if they qualified for more.

Obama said he would not allow the payments to come out of the Social Security trust funds and further erode the finances of the retirement program. Social Security already is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in each of the next two years.

However, Obama did not offer any alternatives to finance the payments. A senior administration official said Obama was open to borrowing the money, increasing the federal budget deficit. The official, who requested anonymity, was not authorized to speak on the record.

The $250 payments would match the ones issued to seniors earlier this year as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Those, too, were financed with borrowed money.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he supports sending out another round of payments, as did Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over Social Security in the House.

Other lawmakers said Social Security recipients shouldn’t get the extra payments because the formula doesn’t call for it.

“I think it would be inappropriate,” said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. “The reason we set up this process was to have the Social Security reimbursement reflect the cost of living.”

Social Security payments increased by 5.8 percent in January, the largest increase since 1982. The big increase was largely because of a spike in energy costs in 2008.

Inflation has been negative this year as gasoline prices have dropped 30 percent and overall energy costs have dropped 23 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Social Security payments, however, cannot go down. The average monthly Social Security payment for all Social Security recipients is $1,094.

(Time Magazine) Social Security officials say they expect an even larger spike in new disability claims than before, as aging, injured baby boomers tumble out of the work force and need income.Officials estimate they’ll receive 3.3 million new disability claims over the next year, up from their previous estimate of 3 million projected just five months ago.

The wave of new applications comes just as officials were making progress in curbing a massive backlog of disability appeals cases, which has plagued the agency for years. Also adding to the problem are recent moves in at least 10 states to furlough hundreds of employees that process initial benefit claims.

Agency officials say the extraordinary increase is driven by the recession and an aging baby boomer work force reaching their most injury-prone years. Long waits for the agency to process claims and resolve appeals can leave some claimants struggling to make ends meet.

Since October, the number of people waiting to have a claim processed has jumped a stunning 30 percent, from about 556,000 eight months ago to more than 736,000 in July. “We’re going to be moving backwards this year, the question is how much,” Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue said in an interview. “The trend line isn’t good.”

Social Security disability benefits are available to people who can no longer work due to injury or illness. The disability program has been the fastest rising part of Social Security, with spending on disability benefits growing at almost twice the rate of spending on retirement benefits.

Astrue said he is frustrated that some states coping with budget shortfalls have decided to furlough state employees that include workers who process claims. Although the workers are employed by the state, their salaries are paid by the federal government, so Astrue said the states save no money by requiring them to take unpaid furloughs. “At a time when the case load is surging like that, it just makes the task that much more difficult,” Astrue said.

The economic stimulus package gave the agency $500 million to help cut the appeals backlog. The agency is hiring hundreds more judges and staff to reduce the case load. The number of cases awaiting a hearing has gone down six months in a row.

Astrue had predicted earlier this year that the agency would cut the appeals backlog to normal levels by 2013 and says he remains confident of meeting that deadline. But the sharp rise in new claims may knock that schedule off track, especially if congressional funding doesn’t keep pace with the increase. “The tsunami hasn’t hit … yet, but it will unfortunately,” said Alan Cohen, senior budget adviser for the Senate Finance Committee, in remarks at a recent meeting of Social Security judges.

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.

Bills have been introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate to phase out, over the next ten years, the Medicare 24-month waiting period. S. 700, introduced by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), and H.R.1708introduced by Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), also would, upon enactment, eliminate the waiting periodfor those individuals with “life-threatening conditions.”

Sheri Abrams, Attorney at Law, know all too well the hardships faced by clients if they are caught in the 24-month waiting period once cash benefits are awarded. Those individuals found eligible most quickly usually have the most serious medical conditions, yet they will need to wait for Medicare coverage at the time when they need it the most. There have been indications that the waiting period will be an issue in the expected debate over health care reform. Nevertheless, Sen. Bingaman and Rep. Green, longtime advocates for elimination of the waiting period, decided to reintroduce their legislation.

The bills would phase out the 24-month waiting period over the next 10 years. In 2010, it would be reduced to 18 months and then reduced by 2 months each year until January 2019, when it would be totally eliminated.
Under current law, the Medicare waiting period does not apply to only two conditions: (1) end-stage renal disease and (2) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, (ALS or “Lou Gehrig’s disease”). The bills would extend the exception to all “life-threatening conditions.” These are not delineated in the bills, but are defined as conditions that are “fatal without medical treatment.” The Secretary of Health and Humans Services would be responsible for compiling a list of such conditions, with regular updates. To compile the list, the Secretary would be required to consult with various federal health agencies and to annually review the SSA “compassionate allowances” list.