Inclusion Daily Express -- Advocates Call On Senate Panel To Support Community Choice Act

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Advocates Call On Senate Panel To Support Community Choice Act
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
March 6, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC--It's time for Congress to finally pass legislation to eliminate the institutional bias in Medicaid long-term care services.

That's the message that advocates for community-based supports delivered Wednesday to the U.S. Senate's Special Committee on Aging.

The advocates testified in a hearing on Health Care Reform in an Aging America, saying that any discussion on health care reform must include finally giving people "a real choice".

Under current guidelines of the joint state-federal Medicaid program, nursing homes and other institutions are an entitlement, while in-home and personal care supports, that are designed to allow people to receive services in their own homes, are not.

Disability rights groups, such as ADAPT, have been pushing for more than a decade for lawmakers to change the rules. The original version was introduced into the House of Representatives in 1997 by then Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The legislation has been opposed by the nursing home industry, and pro-institution groups, such as the Voice of the Retarded.

Now known as the Community Choice Act, the legislation will be reintroduced on March 24.

Several members of ADAPT -- wearing bright orange shirts -- attended Wednesday's hearing.

One who testified was Henry Claypool, the Washington Liaison for PHI, which provides community-based services in New York.

The Community Choice Act "would offer people that need such assistance a real choice between living in an institution or their community," explained Claypool, "enabling states to better meet their civil rights obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide people with disabilities with services . . . in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs."

Related:
Health Care Reform in an Aging American (Senate Committee On Aging)
http://aging.senate.gov/hearing_detail.cfm?id=309028&
Community Choice Act Reintroduction Event -- March 24 (ADAPT)
http://www.dimenet.com/hotnews/archive.php?mode=A&id=7060;&sort=D
Give disabled a home choice (Philadelphia Inquirer)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/2009/red/0306f.htm

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