A Medical Home may be coming to your neighborhood soon—and it’s a welcome first step to help consumers and caregivers coordinate complex medical services for family members suffering from chronic, debilitating diseases. CMS will be hosting a public telephone “Open Door Forum” on October 28 describing Medicare’s new Medical Home Demonstration Program, set up by 2006 Medicare legislation, aimed at recruiting primary care physicians and local health clinics to sign up when the program begins next year. (more…)

Sarah Palin makes me angry. She claims to represent families with special needs, but I can’t point to much that she or John McCain or 8 years of George W. Bush have accomplished to earn this claim. From my vantage point as a caregiver for 20 years to my husband, Paul, who became disabled at 36, and—full disclosure—as a Democrat, I believe that the government has a responsibility to provide for people with disabilities and chronic health problems, and their families. We need creative, supportive, innovative leadership to lift up the hopes and futures of these citizens.

My husband Paul had a ruptured brain aneurysm, resulting in a stroke that left his speech severely impaired and his right arm paralyzed. Over the years, we have met many other people and their families who are coping with significant disabilities. I can tell you that the number one trend in recent years is the decrease of, and lengthened waiting lists for, the services that these families rely on—health insurance coverage, Medicare, Medicaid, vocational rehabilitation, special education, transportation, and much more.

I’m all for personal responsibility, and I can assure you that families like mine take on a tremendous amount of responsibility. But it’s really hard to fight back and conquer impairments when you can’t get the basic rehabilitation and training you need.

Besides being responsible for the decline of services (not to mention research budgets), the current administration, through the waging of war in Iraq, has created a whole new generation of people with disabilities, such as the mild (often not recognized for some time) to severe brain injuries caused by road-side bombs.

I would like to hear Palin and her supporters explain exactly what the Republicans have done and plan to do to help people with disabilities aspire to and acquire a good job, a fulfilling life, and independence. We need more than a friend in the White House. We need advocates who will make a real difference.