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The Connecting Point

Volume 3 Issue 11 August 22nd, 2005

In This ISSUE:

1) Quick Guides from NCWD/Youth  
2) The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit  
3) Foster Care Alumni Study
 
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1) Quick Guides from NCWD/Youth   - NCWD/Youth is offering a series of Quick Reference Guides that provide resources on critical topics for administrators, youth service practitioners, and policymakers. Each Guide offers succinct descriptions of a topic with resources that have been identified by experts at NCWD/Youth. The topics include:

Workplace success: The guide describes how to create successful work-based experiences for youth and their employers that foster adult employment success for all youth, particularly for those with disabilities.

Youth development and youth leadership for all youth: The guide explains youth development and leadership components and how they lead to more effective workforce development programs.

Assessment: The guide gives an overview of the process of collecting information that can be used in decision-making, career-planning, and service plan development for a young person.

Hidden Disabilities: The guide provides a basic understanding of how to identify and screen for hidden disabilities; connect to formal diagnosis; provide appropriate accommodations; and identify support services.

Benefits Planning for Youth with Disabilities: The guide helps those assisting youth with disabilities navigate the range of state and federal government programs and benefits for people with disabilities in the United States .

Universal Access: The guide assists those developing a program, service, or activity to make them accessible to youth and adults with disabilities.

The packet of guides can be downloaded at http://www.ncwd-youth.info/resources_&_Publications/quick_Reference_Guides/

From: Reference Points

2 The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit  -Beginning January 1, 2006, Medicare will cover preventive screenings and offer coverage (85 - 100%) for prescription drugs. The Medicare Modernization Act brings preventive medicine, more health care choices, and prescription drugs to every American receiving Medicare. Many people who work and receive Medicaid and Medicare will be eligible for these new benefits Beginning October 1, "Medicare and You" handbooks will be mailed to beneficiaries who are reminded to consider plan options carefully. Eligible people are required to enroll between the dates are November 15, 2005 through the last day to enroll for 2006, May 15, 2006. If an eligible person does not enroll a plan will be selected for you. A penalty could apply if a person eligible person does not apply. For more information, visit the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services' Modernization Act web page http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicarereform/

Links to specific information are listed below. http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11125.pdf http://www.cms.hhs.gov/partnerships/news/mma/qsandas.pdf http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicarereform/91007_MedicareBrochure.pdf

A Spanish Brochure: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicarereform/DrugCovisavailSpanish.pdf

Examples that clarify how new benefits will impact individuals with different circumstances .

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/partnerships/news/mma/vignettesfinal.pdf

A Calendar that explains the timelines and dates about the prescription plan enrollment

In English: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/partnerships/calendar/BeneficiaryCalendar.pdf In Spanish: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/partnerships/calendar/SPMedicareRxCalendar_062005.pdf

3) Foster Care Alumni Study - The psychological effects on children who are in the foster care systems can last a lifetime, according to Harvard Medical School researchers as reported in "Former Foster Kids´ Mental Health, Socioeconomic Status Worse Off as Adults Than Others". The researchers concluded that adults who as children were raised in the foster care system tend to be " less educated and in much worse mental health than other adults the same age, and about one-third live at or below the poverty level -- three times the national average. For more information on the study go to 
http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/NorthwestAlumniStudy.htm