Monthly Archives: September 2008
Urge Congress to Provide Increased Funding for TBI Programs in Continuing Resolution
As in past years, Congress is not expected to finish appropriations before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Instead, Congress will most likely need to pass an extended Continuing Resolution (CR) for Fiscal Year 2009 Appropriations to keep the government running into the next fiscal year beginning on October 1. Please click on the “Take Action” button in the upper-right hand corner of this email to urge your elected officials to support increased funding for traumatic brain injury (TBI) programs in the CR, as well as in any final Fiscal Year 2009 funding package.
BIAA Again Urges Senators to Swiftly Pass the ADA Amendments Act
Once again, BIAA signed a coalition letter urging passage of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 3195/S.3406). On August 8, 2008, BIAA joined a number of other groups in signing a letter which was distributed to Senators over the summer recess urging swift Senate enactment of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (S. 3406).
House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Approves TBI Funding
On a related note, the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee passed its version of the Fiscal 2009 Defense Appropriations bill on July 30, 2008, including hundreds of millions of dollars allocated for TBI.
The funding bill approved by the Subcommittee includes $617 million for Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health.
House Approves Military Construction-VA Spending Bill Without TBI Amendments
Despite little progress on appropriations so far this year, the House of Representatives was able to pass its version of the Fiscal 2009 Military Construction-VA spending bill (H.R. 6599) by a vote of 409-4 on August 1, 2008.
BIAA Spearheads Senate Letter Urging TRICARE to Cover Cognitive Rehabilitation
Reflecting one of BIAA’s biggest public policy accomplishments this year, a group of Senators issued a letter on August 4, 2008 to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates urging official TRICARE coverage of cognitive rehabilitation.
For the Brain, Remembering Is Like Reliving
Scientists have for the first time recorded individual brain cells in the act of summoning a spontaneous memory, revealing not only where a remembered experience is registered but also, in part, how the brain is able to recreate it.
War Veterans’ Concussions Are Often Overlooked
Former Staff Sgt. Kevin Owsley is not quite sure what rattled his brain in 2004: the roadside bomb that exploded about a yard from his Humvee or the rocket-propelled grenade that flung him across a road as he walked to a Porta Potti on base six weeks later.
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/us/26tbi.html
Misconceptions about Who Pays for Long Term Care
A large majority of the American public still believes that the government will provide long term care when needed. It is this misconception that most likely prevents people from doing any planning at a younger age for the future need for care. According to the National Care Planning Council, (www.longtermcarelink.net) many people believe they can give away assets prior to the need for long term care and qualify for Medicaid. The Council suggests that this belief prevents people from considering other ways to fund the cost of future care.
