National Call-In Day May 13th: Ensure that the Community Choice Act and Long-Term Services and Supports are Included in Healthcare Reform

Background

In coming weeks, the Senate will finalize legislation to reform America's health care system. Now is the time for our country to address the institutional bias in Medicaid. Long-term services and supports must be included in health care reform.

There is an institutional bias within Medicaid that denies Americans with disabilities an equal choice for home and community services. Nearly half of all funding for long-term services is provided through Medicaid that requires individuals to impoverish themselves to receive supports. Hundreds of thousands of individuals with disabilities and their families are on waiting lists for Medicaid home and community-based services.

Proposals exist to help address these issues. However, they will only be included within healthcare reform legislation if Congress hears from you.

Aging and disability organizations across the country have joined together to host a national call-in day on Wednesday, May 13th. Please join thousands of others across the country in calling your Senators to tell them how important it is to include long-term services and supports. Your calls make a difference!

Call-In Information

When: Wednesday, May 13 (Between 8AM and 6PM EDT)

Call-In Number: 1-866-459-9232 (Toll Free)

You will be asked which state you are calling from and will be connected
to your Senators' offices. Below is a sample script to leave a message.

"Hello. My name is _________ and I'm calling from (the state you are
from) to ask the Senator to help make sure the Community Choice Act and
long-term services and supports are part of health care reform.

Long-term services and supports are essential to the health, well-being,
and community participation of individuals with disabilities and seniors. We must address the institutional bias and give people a REAL CHOICE. Please ensure that the Community Choice Act and long-term services and supports are included in legislation to reform health care. Thank you."

NATIONAL ADAPT MAILING LIST - Adapt Community Choice Act List http://www.adapt.org

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For Immediate Release:
May 14, 2009

For Information Contact:

Bruce Darling, 585-370-6690
Amber Smock, 866-957-5303
Bob Kafka, 512-431-4085

Over 10,000 people call to urge the US Senate to address long term services and supports and Medicaid's institutional bias in healthcare reform

Yesterday, over ten thousand people across the country contacted their US
Senators to urge them to include long-term services and supports in healthcare reform and address the institutional bias in Medicaid. As the Senate reaches a pivotal moment in deliberating health care reform this week, advocates say elected officials are ignoring current federal Medicaid policies that continue to waste taxpayer dollars and force persons with disabilities and older people into nursing facilities and other iinstitutions because they cannot get assistance in their own homes. "Community based services are cost effective and what people want. Current federal policy does exactly the opposite. That must change," said Dawn Russell, an ADAPT activist from Denver, Colorado.

ADAPT and over 700 other organizations support the Community Choice Act
(S683/HR1670) which would eliminate the institutional bias. "Healthcare
reform gives us the perfect opportunity to address these issues," said Ms.
Russell. "We are calling upon our nation's leaders to pass the Community
Choice Act as part of healthcare reform and will do what it takes to make this
happen." The Call In event was organized by a network of aging and disability organizations just weeks after ADAPT activists were arrested at the White House and on Capitol Hill.

According to reports from several states, when callers could not get through
to Senate offices on Capitol Hill, they began calling local offices.
Organizers were not surprised by the volume of calls. "This issue affects
virtually every single American family," said Rahnee Patrick an ADAPT activist from Chicago, IL. "They may be caring for a child with a disability, helping a person with a disability achieve independence, or supporting an aging family member; all of these families need more effective long term services and supports. They are recognizing that this is a policy issue, not just a personal one, and they want change."

Advocates are becoming increasingly concerned that the Senate may try to
placate aging and disability advocates with superficial reform efforts.
Earlier this week Senators Baucus and Grassley released policy options under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee. "It looks like they want to give the appearance of reform without addressing the fundamental problems of Medicaid's institutional bias, the lack of opportunities for self-determination or consumer direction and the need to have eligibility
based on functional need, not diagnosis," said Bob Kafka, an ADAPT organizer from Austin, Texas. He added, "We are all waiting and watching."

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ADAPT is a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights
activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience,
to assure that people have a real choice in how and where they receive long
term services and supports. For more information about ADAPT, visit our
website at www.adapt.org.

NATIONAL ADAPT MAILING LIST - Adapt Community Choice Act List http://www.adapt.org