Brain Injury Blog | Traumatic Brain Injury TBI

BIAA has issued a Legislative Action Alert requesting that advocates call their Senators and urge them to vote for passage of the Addressing America’s Priorities Act (S. 3297). Continue Reading »

On Wednesday, July 8, 2008, by a vote of 69-30, the Senate approved Medicare legislation (H.R. 6331) to prevent a 10.6% payment cut to physicians. In addition to preventing harmful payment cuts to physicians, this Medicare bill includes other important provisions which would improve care for individuals with brain injury.

These critical provisions include an 18-month extension of the Medicare outpatient therapy caps exceptions process, a component of the bill strongly supported by advocates working to improve access to vital rehabilitation therapies for individuals with brain injury. Continue Reading »

Town Hall Would Facilitate Discussion of Issues Facing America’s Military and Veteran Community, Including Traumatic Brain Injury

The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) recently joined a consortium of non-profit organizations dedicated to serving active military, veterans, their families and their survivors, in inviting the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates to Fort Hood, Texas, for an in-depth discussion of the increasingly complex issues facing America’s military and veteran community. The CBS television network has agreed to produce and broadcast the very important Town Hall meeting in prime time on Monday, August 11, 2008. Continue Reading »

BIAA issued a press release today urging both presidential candidates to attend the 2008 Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall and engage in an in-depth discussion of the increasingly complex issues facing America’s military and veterans community, including the rate of traumatic brain injury among returning service members.  BIAA is a member of the 2008 Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium, and the event is tentatively scheduled to occur on August 11, 2008. Continue Reading »

Progress on appropriations occurred this week on the Senate side, as the full Senate Appropriations Committee marked up and approved its Fiscal 2009 Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education funding bill. Continue Reading »

Congress also made progress on a major disability rights bill, as both the House Education and Labor Committee and the House Judiciary Committee marked up and approved the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 3195). This measure is designed to counter the last decade of Supreme and lower court decisions which have excluded large groups of people with disabilities from receiving employment protections included in the original Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was enacted in 1990. Continue Reading »

Progress on appropriations occurred this week in the House of Representatives, as the House Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education Appropriations Subcommittee marked up, and approved by voice vote, its Fiscal 2009 spending bill on Thursday.

Specific details of the bill, including funding levels for several federal TBI-related programs, were not made public, but are expected to emerge next week when the full House Appropriations Committee considers the bill. Continue Reading »

Also on Wednesday, the House Committee on Veterans Affairs approved H.R. 2818, legislation endorsed by BIAA which would establish Epilepsy Centers of Excellence within the VA. Last week, the Senate passed its version of the legislation as part of a package of veterans’ mental health bills. Continue Reading »

Late this week, Fiscal 2009 302(b) Appropriations Subcommittee Allocations were announced, including an allocation of $153.1 billion for the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds multiple TBI-related programs, including programs authorized through the TBI Act. Continue Reading »

The House of Representatives passed the final fiscal 2009 budget resolution conference report (S. Con Res 70) on Thursday, by a narrow vote of 214-210. The Senate adopted the same resolution on June 4 by a vote of 48-45. Continue Reading »