Help Determine the Healthcare Positions of Presidential Candidates

Research!America and their supporting partners have announced the launch of Your Candidates–Your Health: Presidential Primaries 2008. Check it out at: http://www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org/.

Let the candidates know that you want to see their positions on important healthcare issues, including MS, by responding to the questionnaire.

Back in May, you helped us collect information on your Senators and Representatives, to see if they were as focused on accessible, affordable quality health care as we are. This new questionnaire is specific to presidential candidates. The success of Your Candidates–Your Health is dependent on presidential candidates hearing from you. By clicking on each candidate's photo on the site, you will find a link to their e-mail address as well as sample text for a message.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is working in partnership with Research!America to collect this important information.

In the News: Battling MS with Kevin Bacon

When Robin Maxwell started feeling numbness and tingling in her legs in the fall of 2006, she wasn't overly concerned. Having recently run both a marathon and another long-distance race, the 39-year-old resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, figured she'd just been overdoing it. But when the pain moved up to her stomach and neck, she became alarmed. In January 2007, her doctor called her with the diagnosis: she had multiple sclerosis ...

Not long after her diagnosis, Maxwell heard about a Web site that actor Kevin Bacon had started called SixDegrees.org ... She raised nearly $18,000 for her local MS chapter [the Blue Ridge Chapter]. And she finished as one of the top six fundraisers on Bacon's site and won $10,000 for MS research...

"Fundraising and activism," said Maxwell, "has brought in so much joy. ... I can be a part of what's going to make the situation better, not just for me, but for so many people."


These are a few excerpts from an October 10 broadcast on CNN. Click here to read the complete story.

Update on the Americans with Disabilities Act Restoration Act of 2007

Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY) recently held a legislative hearing on the Americans with Disabilities Act Restoration Act of 2007 (H.R. 3195). This bill aims to restore the ADA's clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination on the basis of disability.

In recognition of the ADA, Representatives Steny Hoyer (MD) and James Sensenbrenner (WI) introduced the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 on the anniversary of the ADA on July 26.

Nadler is chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. “The ADA is the one the most important civil rights laws of our time, but this historic law has been diluted by the courts. In ruling after ruling, the courts have found that people with serious health conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes and epilepsy are not 'disabled enough' to qualify for protection from disability discrimination under the ADA. That was never the intent of Congress, and we must bring clarity to the law,” he said.

The bill currently has 207 co-sponsors, thanks in part to emails from MS activists. Click here to read the recent MS Action Alert on this issue.

Renewed Attention to Medicare "In the Home" Restriction

Some people who live with MS and use a mobility device are confined to their homes due to a certain Medicare restriction on reimbursement. Medicare Part B still will only provide reimbursement for power wheelchairs or scooters that are used inside the home. For those who need a mobility device to get around in the community outside, reimbursement is denied.

Eliminating the "in the home" restriction is imperative to providing necessary and deserved mobility to people living with MS and other disabilities. Click here and enter your ZIP code to send a quick email to your Senators. Ask them to help lift the "in the home" restriction by co-sponsoring this legislation.

This is the same issue that MS activists have been pursuing for awhile. Senators Jeff Bingaman (NM) and Susan Collins (ME) have renewed interest in this issue by reintroducing the Medicare Independent Living Act (S. 2103).

Statutory language currently is interpreted by Medicare to restrict coverage of mobility devices to only equipment considered reasonable and necessary inside a beneficiary's home. This legislation seeks to lift that restriction under Medicare Part B. S. 2103 is a companion bill to H.R. 1809, introduced in the House by Congressmen Jim Langevin (RI) and Jim Ramstad (MN) back in March. The issue has early support. The Senate bill was reintroduced with five co-sponsors, and the House bill now has 33 bi-partisan co-sponsors.

Congressman Carnahan Sends Letter Supporting MS Research Funding

Congressman Russ Carnahan (MO) has sent Congressman John Murtha (PA) the "Dear Colleague" letter urging support for multiple sclerosis research funding. Murtha is chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and a key decisionmaker on this issue.

The following Representatives signed the letter in support. Thank you to all MS activists who reached out to their legislator on this issue.

Tammy Baldwin (WI)
Howard Berman (CA)
Charles Boustany (LA)
Russ Carnahan (MO)
Lois Capps (CA)
William Delahunt (MA)
Lincoln Davis (TN)
Tom Davis (VA)
Bob Filner (CA)
Virgil Goode (VA)
Bart Gordon (TN)
John Hall (NY)
Patrick Kennedy (RI)
Jim Langevin (RI)
Sandy Levin (MI)
Jim Marshall (GA)
Carolyn McCarthy (NY)
Jim McDermott (WA)
Dennis Moore (KS)
Collin Peterson (MN)
Todd Platts (PA)
Rick Renzi (AZ)
Peter Roskam (IL)
Allyson Schwartz (PA)
Ellen Tauscher (CA)
John Tierney (MA)
Henry Waxman (CA)
Peter Welch (VT)
Robert Wexler (FL)