March 18, 2004
No More Stolen Lives!
Hold Hearings on
Institutional Bias!
Pass MiCASSA and S.1394
Washington,
D.C.---Determined to be heard on removing the nation's institutional bias in
Medicaid funded long term care services, 500 ADAPT activists are converging on
Washington, D.C. March 20-25. Kicking off the campaign to get legislative
hearings scheduled is a March to the White House at sundown on Sunday, March
21. Marchers from all over the country will carry the messages "No More
Stolen Lives", "End the Institutional Bias", and "No More
Waiting for Home and Community Services."
ADAPT is in D.C. to press
Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Democrat Max
Baucus (D-MT) to hold hearings on removing the institutional bias in Medicaid,
the nation's major funder of long term care services and supports. There are
several bills with bi-partisan support now in Congress which would allow
disabled and older Americans to choose to receive their long term care in their
own homes instead of being forced into nursing homes as is now the case.
At least two of the bills
(S.1394, Money Follows the Person Act, and S.1971, MiCASSA, the
Medicaid Home and Community-based Services and supports Act) remain buried
in the Senate Finance Committee. ADAPT and the 700 other organizations
supporting these bills want Grassley and Baucus to hold hearings and move the
bills to the Senate floor.
Medicaid, a state-federal
partnership, mandates states to pay for nursing homes, but not for the same
services in one's own home. In 1999, in L.C. and E.W. v.s. Olmstead, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that this practice
amounts to illegal forced segregation when the person could be adequately
served in the community. In 2000, President George Bush issued both an Executive
Order mandating implementation of the Olmstead decision, and his New Freedom
Initiative which called for all federal Departments to assess and plan for
removal of barriers to people with disabilities accessing all aspects of their
communities.
In this election year, it's
imperative that Congress and the President get their priorities straight. There
are too many people in this country being denied the freedom we say we are
fighting for around the world because those people are forced into nursing homes
and other institutions by the Medicaid institutional bias, said Bob Kafka,
National ADAPT Organizer. In essence, our failed public policy is stealing away
years and lives from people who deserve so much better from their country. Our
march to the White House on Sunday will be led by people who have been freed
from institutional settings to enjoy typical lives in the community, and we
will all be demanding "No More Stolen Lives."
FOR MORE INFORMATION on ADAPT
visit our website at:
Or Contact:
Bob Kafka 512/431-4085
Marsha Katz 406/544-9504