About AIMMM

Purpose:

AIMMMM is a policy forum that identifies and advances responsible reforms in Medicare and Medicaid needed to increase the health, independence, and self-sufficiency of persons with disabilities. It brings people with disabilities, families, Federal and State officials, the media and others around a common table to identify effective ways to advance needed change in policy and real people's lives. Toward this end, AIMMMM is committed to working to identify, better understand and highlight effective reforms and best practices. Examples of such activities include developing policy decisions for:

Replacing the homebound requirement for Medicare home health services with criteria which target those most in need without sacrificing their personal freedom;
Eliminating Medicare policies that keep beneficiaries from obtaining the durable medical equipment and other services they need to lead active, healthy lives;
Improving services to individuals with disabilities dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid;
Assuring that any new Medicare prescription drug benefit meets the needs of beneficiaries with disabilities;
Making certain that the Medicare and Medicaid provisions of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act truly pay off for employed individuals with disabilities; and
Assuring that the requirements of the ADA and the Olmstead decision are applied in a consistent manner in both Medicare and Medicaid.

AIMMM will make a crucial contribution to spurring greater public understanding and discussion of these issues by working with the news media, public opinion survey and other nonpartisan groups to gauge, inform and educate the views of voters, candidates and public officials on these and other crucial public policy issues.

Funding:

AIMMM currently receives funding for specific projects and activities from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation, the Social Security Administration, the Administration on Developmental Disabilities in the Department of Health and Human Services, and other individual donors.

Partners:

AIMMM is a program of Half the Planet Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization promoting the values of the Americans with Disabilities Act: independent living, social inclusion, equality of opportunity and economic self-sufficiency. HTP offers research, studies and projects at http://www.halftheplanet.org, a web site for people with disabilities, their families and friends in search of information, products and services. AIMMM also is partnering with the ARCUS and others on the Medicaid Info Desk and Job One initiatives.

Projects and Activities:

Specific projects of AIMMM include those focused on:

Development of Medicare and Medicaid Policy Briefs: AIMMM is preparing a series of policy briefs and a beneficiary guide for the Kaiser Family Foundation that will explain the important roles that the Medicare and Medicaid programs can and must play in the lives of Americans with disabilities of all ages. The materials also will highlight how both programs can be modernized to better enhance the health, independence and self-sufficiency of these individuals and their families in the future.

Job One: In partnership with SSA, the ARCUS and others, AIMMM will develop easy to understand materials that that highlight the success stories of young people with significant disabilities and the practical strategies that they are using to gain a variety of early work experiences. Job One also will develop and share practical tips and resources that help potential employers, service learning programs, parents, teachers and others better support young people with significant disabilities to win at work.

The Medicaid Reference Desk: AIMMM is working with the ARCUS and others on launching an online Medicaid Info Desk. The site offers individuals with mental retardation or developmental disabilities and their families in 10 States an easy way to access clear, concise and up to date information on what Medicaid community living services are available and how they might qualify. Go to: http://www.thedesk.info.

Other on going activities of AIMMM include those focused on:

Easing the Medicare Homebound Restriction: AIMMM is working with David Jayne and other Medicare beneficiaries to eliminate the discriminatory and punitive impacts this rule has on thousands of Americans with disabilities. We are seeking to reverse the current requirement that individuals with significant disabilities who are eligible for the Medicare home health services because they need skilled care must stay inside their homes in order to continue to receive services. Click here for more information and to see AIMMM's position on this issue.

Modifying Medicare's "In the Home Only" Coverage Policy For Wheelchairs and other Durable Medical Equipment: AIMMM is working in coalition with other disability and aging organizations to eliminate Medicare policies that keep beneficiaries from obtaining the durable medical equipment and other services they need to lead active, healthy and productive lives. Click here for more information and to see AIMMM's position on this issue.

Benchmarks for Independence: In the coming year, AIMMM will begin to work with the disability and aging communities, civic leaders, public officials and others to assess the need for community living services and develop benchmarks for increasing access to them at the local level.

Bios:

AIMMM's Co-Directors are Bob Williams and Henry Claypool; two nationally recognized experts in reforming and making community living services more responsive to the needs, abilities and life choices of Americans with disabilities of all ages. As persons with disabilities with over 35 years of combined public policy experience working to advance such solutions, Williams and Claypool bring a unique set of perspectives, abilities and a deep sense of commitment to their work. Based on their own experiences and those of others who have either used work incentives or had to go it entirely on their own to gain competitive employment both also strongly believe that people should not have to forgo the Medicare and Medicaid's services simply to work and pay taxes.

Bob Williams
In 1993, Bob Williams was appointed by President Bill Clinton and HHS Secretary Donna Shalala to be the first American with significant disabilities to be the Commissioner of the Administration on Developmental Disabilities in Health and Human Services (HHS). Four years later, Shalala again tapped him to be her Deputy Assistant Secretary for Disability, Aging and Long Term Care Policy in the Office for Planning and Evaluation. In this latter role, Williams provided principal leadership in the Clinton Administration on expanding home and community based services and the creation of Medicaid buy-in for employed individuals with disabilities. He also architected HHS' implementation of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in L.C. v. Olmstead that the ADA affords people with disabilities the right to live and receive services in their own homes and communities rather than in institutions. Williams has lived and worked in Washington, DC for nearly 25 years. In the early 90's he worked for United Cerebral Palsy Associations (UCPA) and played a key role in the passage and implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Born with significant cerebral palsy in 1957, Williams has had the good fortune of having parents, brothers and sisters, families and friends whom have believed in him from the start. These early expectations guide his life and his work.

Henry Claypool
Henry Claypool is the former Senior Advisor for Disability Policy to the Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), now the Centers on Medicare and Medicaid Services in HHS. While at HHS Claypool played a key role in marshalling a highly effective implementation effort in response the Olmstead decision that involved an extensive review of federal policy and development of guidance to States on the operation of the Medicaid program. He also was instrumental in developing policies that expanded Medicare's coverage policy regarding certain assistive technologies. In 2000, the agency classified augmentative communication devices as durable medical equipment allowing the Medicare program to pay for these aids. Becoming disabled when he was a student at the University of Colorado, Claypool went on to become the director of the disability services office at its Boulder campus. He also managed a home health agency for people with significant disabilities housed within an independent living center.