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Photo Contest Winners Announced
November 2008

Judges have finished reviewing entries in the Life on Wheels Today Photo Contest, sponsored in part by New Mobility. Click here to see the finalists and winners.

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HHS Says Medicaid Spending Unsustainable
November 2008
An October 17 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says Medicaid health spending projected over 10 years will grow at a much higher rate than the U.S. economy in general. Medicaid benefits for people with low income will increase 7.3 percent from 2007 to 2008 and reach $339 billion. Spending will also expand an average of 7.9 percent annually over the next 10 years and is projected to reach $674 billion by 2017. In comparison, the overall projected growth rate for the economy is 4.8 percent.

"This report should serve as an urgent reminder that the current path of Medicaid spending is unsustainable for both federal and state governments," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told Reuters. "If nothing is done to rein in these costs, access to health care for the nation's most vulnerable citizens could be threatened."

Medicare's federal health insurance program for people with disabilities is projected to grow at a lower rate than Medicaid.

 

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VA Reclassifies Lou Gehrig's Disease
November 2008
On Sept. 23, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced new regulations classifying amyotrophic lateral sclerosis as a service-related disease, granting full military disability and lifetime health and death benefits to all veterans diagnosed with ALS, regardless of when or where they served. This announcement comes five years after a 10-year VA study showing ALS was almost twice as prevalent in veterans who served in the Persian Gulf in 1990-1992 compared to veterans who did not serve in the Gulf during the same time. ALS can take 10 years or longer to develop.

The VA is exploring reasons such as chemical or biological toxins for the higher rate of ALS among veterans deployed in the Gulf. According to the VA, they expect 416 new cases of ALS among veterans in 2009 and a total of about 700 veterans who qualify for the benefits annually.

Neurologist Jinsy Andrews, speaking at the center for ALS at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, quoted in The New York Times, said, "There are many theories of why veterans may be having an increased risk of ALS, which include psychological or physical stress, or even vaccinations or exposure to electromagnetic fields, or to toxic agents that have been used in the Gulf War." He added, "And that may lead [us to] discover possible associations and mechanisms involved in the disease that have been unknown for so long."

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More Exploitation of Phony Disability Status?
November 2008
New York's Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is reviewing its Access Pass program after learning that New York residents with disability passes played nearly 70 percent of the state's free golf rounds on Long Island state courses -- 41,000 of the statewide total of 59,000 rounds -- in one year. The review coincides with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's investigation into possible disability pension abuses at Long Island Rail Road, where 98 percent of white-collar employees retire with disability pensions.

"Just like with parking passes, it appears that nondisabled people are abusing access passes and using the facilities," says Patricia Moore, director of the Long Island Center for Independent Living, Levittown, NY. "I don't like when people abuse accessible parking or other accessible passes," says Moore, who has been disabled for 50 years.

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Matt Eddy's 3,335-mile Wheelchair Ride
November 2008
From June 20 to October 25, Matt Eddy, 31, drove his power wheelchair six to eight hours per day, from Boston, Mass., to Long Beach, Calif., tent-camping along the way while raising awareness in hopes of keeping people out of nursing homes. Eddy, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and uses a vent, is raising money for his charity, Matt's Place, to build accessible housing for people with severe disabilities.

"I got a lot of support along my journey but also heard all kinds of horror stories," says Eddy, from Lynn, Mass. "One guy said his sister, who had MS, got put in an institution, got sick and died."

Following Eddy on a bicycle was friend and therapist, Ron Streenbruggen. Streenbruggen's daughter and another friend followed in a van, carrying Eddy's equipment and the group's camping gear. The group, including Eddy, camped out every night and cooked most of their meals. Other than a few drivers who drove dangerously close to him, Eddy had only a few scares, most notably when his vent stopped working.

"The first time my vent died was on the side of the road -- the battery just died and I couldn't breathe," he says. "Another time the vent died in the middle of night while I was sleeping. I woke up not breathing and Ron had to run out to the van and find my backup vent. That was nerve wracking."

Eddy and Streenbruggen started their charity two years ago. When funds weren't flying in, Eddy came up with the idea to drive across country. On their trek, they raised more awareness then money and are now looking for grants to start building accessible homes. Go to www.OfficialMattsPlace.org.

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Trial Antibiotics Offer Promise Against Resistant Bugs
November 2008
At a conference of infectious disease experts in late October, pharmaceutical companies announced that two experimental antibiotics look promising in the fight against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Neither of the experimental drugs appears to cause harsh side effects.

In clinical trials, PTK 0796, one of a new class of drugs related to tetracycline, cleared MRSA infections in 98 percent of cases compared to 93 percent treated with Pfizer's Zyvox -- known generically as linezolid. PTK 0796 is manufactured by Paratek Pharmaceuticals. Another antibiotic from Arpida cured 92.3 percent of cases compared to 97 percent given Zyvox.

MRSA has been showing resistance to linezolid, the intravenous drug now used to treat MRSA. Linezolid may also damage bone marrow and nerves. Scientists are searching for a drug that can be taken orally and does not cause adverse side effects, but more trials are needed. After FDA approval, it could take five to 10 years for the new antibiotics to hit the market.

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NSCIA Honors 2008 SCI Hall of Famers
November 2008

The National Spinal Cord Injury Association has announced its 2008 Hall of Fame inductees. The 18 new members include Carmen D. Jones in the Entrepreneur category; Sen. Edward Kennedy in the Legislator category; Marty Ball in Sports; and the late Harriet McBryde Johnson in Media. For a complete list of honorees and bios, go to www.spinalcord.org.

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