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בית / אלבומים / Washington DC, Sept. 2006 25
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Tennessee Needs The ... Community Choices Act of 2006 In Tennessee, facilities receive the lion's share of the long-term care budget. Washington, the state next to Tennessee in total population, has state waivers that provide citizens with Home and Community Based Services rather than forcing them into costly institutions. [ADAPT logo] The nursing home industry dominates long-term care funding in Tennessee resulting in poor care to fewer people at a greater public cost. Washington, with a much smaller federal Medicaid match serves over 70 thousand people with its long-term care Medicaid program, most in the community. Tennessee serves fewer than 40 thousand and almost exclusively in expensive and undesirable institutions. www.adapt.org
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group would split up further into teams of four or five to visit all of the congress members on a particular floor. After leaving the hotel, my group marched up Capitol Hill past the House Office buildings, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court and the Capitol to the Hart Senate Office Building. The object of the visits today is to deliver MiCASSA materials to all the Congress members, their offices and staff. MiCASSA, the Community Choice Act, has a long history that goes back before me. I was at the action in Atlanta Georgia in 1996 when Newt Gingrich said he would introduce the bill in the next legislative session. Back when it was introduced, the legislation was called CASA; it has gone through some changes that have made it a much better bill without being watered-down by compromise. MiCASSA is basically the same concept as when it was introduced nearly ten years ago. MiCASSA will be re-introduced in the 2007 legislative session and it will have its strongest support ever. This year it has a streamlined name: MiCASSA - The Community Choice Act, to better describe the main advantage of the bill. The teams delivered copies of the legislation, a press release and the transcript of the Day of Testimony. Six months ago in Nashville, to kick-off our ADAPT action there, people who had lived in nursing homes gave public testimony about their experience living in an institution corn-pared with living in the community. The personal narratives are a compelling argument for MiCASSA. In the evening of the final day, ADAPT celebrates together. This action in particular was one to observe. From the dual hit on Housing Authorities, to the reverberating walls of the Hilton lobby, to the back-to-back success with HUD and the RNC and finally, to the accomplishments of today, this has been a success.
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"It was obvious that HUD was making a decision not to send a letter as they promised," said Randy Alexander of Memphis. ”Jackson said they would inform Housing Authorities about setting a priority [for people leaving institutions], and the only reason for a delay seems to be that they now do not want to simply write the letter.” Ten minutes after leaving the "ADAPT Hotel," activists marched three blocks to the front of the menacing HUD building entrance. A delegation led by Jose Lara, Barbara Toomer and Bruce Darling of ADAPT was quickly led inside to negotiate, while hundreds of activists chanted and sang non-stop in the rain. The ADAPT team soon walked out of the meeting when the bureaucrats were not receptive. But the Assistant Secretary Kim Kendrick apparently did not want to see how the mass of ADAPT would react to the news; a second round of discussions was arranged with HUD. "We told them that we have been waiting for so long for the letter, and they were not going to do anything,” said Jose Lara of El Paso. "So we decided to leave. That was when they said ‘No, no, wait. We can deliver the letter.'” ”The Deputy Secretary came out to talk to us and said the letter would be there November first,” said Barb Toomer of Utah, who negotiated with HUD. "So, you know, if you trust them, the letter will be here. If things go the way have in the past, the letter won't be here and next time the letter doesn't come, it ain't gonna’ be much fun.” Shortly after HUD submitted, ADAPT was back in line and in the streets, headed east to the RNC headquarters. Soaked but invigorated by the success, Cassie [unreadable] of Philadelphia summed up the experience with HUD: "Well, I think we got the slow wheels of HUD turning again - I think it is ADAPT that keeps everything moving. They said HUD would put out the letter, but they couldn't get it out very quickly. But we upped the ante, and now the letter will be out in November." [Subheading] Day Five: Friday, A Diary of ADAPT’s visit to legislative offices. I wake up startled just after 8:00 am. I am still groggy from staying up so late and from the general exhaustion from the ADAPT Action yesterday. The alarm did not go off, and my girlfriend did not call; I guess I just got up because I did not want to miss any of the action. To get to all of the congresspersons offices, ADAPT had split up into groups of about 50 and spread out to the various security checkpoints at all of the House and Senate Office buildings. Once inside, the [image] [image caption] Teams gather in the Hart Building. Photo by Tim Wheat [text resumes] to the hotel conference room where the Full ADAPT contingent was gathered to announce that CPD would write a letter supporting the Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act (HR. 910, S 401.), ADAPT’s primary federal legislation proposal known as MiCASSA, and send it to all the bill’s co-sponsors. Day two was more of the same, with a long, slow march in a steady drizzle, the battle cry of ‘Go, go, go." and the stampede into the ornate lobby of the Capitol Hilton hotel. To my left was a potted fern and to my right was a mahogany colonnade supporting the mezzanine terrace from which worried men and women in business suits looked down on the packed lobby. Some of us wore cow costumes to add theater to the chant “WERE NOT YOUR CASH COW!" This time, ADAPT demanded a meeting with America’s Health insurance Plans CEO Karen lgnagni. AHIP, the trade association tor many of the nation’s managed care organizations, was targeted because as states start handing over long-term-care programs to private managed -care providers, quality and eligibility standards might suffer. ADAPT wants private insurers to guarantee that, among other things, people with disabilities wilI be offered self-directed community-based services as the first long-term-care option. After about two hours, ADAPT leader Mike Oxford read over a bull horn a letter signed by lgnagni agreeing to meet within 30 days. The day-three march was much shorter and wetter, culminating at HUD headquarters. Below the we come sign above the front door, a line of stern-looking guards stood behind yellow police barricade tape. Two ADAPT leaders were allowed to enter and meet with Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Kim Kendrick. hen AD PT leaders met with HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson in May, he agreed to write the nation’s Public Housing Authorities, asking them to designate a number of Section 8 housing vouchers for Medicaid-eligible persons leaving she ters, nursing homes and other institutions. But the letter was never sent. Kendrick promised to get the letter out by November 1st. The marchers then continued to the headquarters ot the Republican National Committee, where people in wheelchairs occupied nearly every square foot of the lobby and spilled out onto the porch and sidewalk outside the entrance. After about an hour, ADAPT received a commitment in writing for a meeting before the end of the year with Ken Mehlman, the RNC chairman. ADAPT wants the RNC to endorse MiCASSA and Access Across America. The next night, at the final large group meeting, it was announced that the youth leaders had received a return call from Jim Ailing, president of U.S. operations tor Starbucks. According to youth summit organizer Sarah Watkins, the group received an apology and an offer to work with Starbucks‘ access specialists to address problems at the local store and others in the franchise. After meeting with ADAPT, NCPD sent a letter supporting passage of MiCASSA to the co-sponsors in both the House and Senate. ADAPT got a commitment from Kim Kendrick, HUD’s assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, to make sure her boss, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, keeps his promise to contact the PHAs about designating Section 8 vouchers for Medicaid-eligible people With disabilities who are coming out of shelters, nursing homes and other institutions. ADAPT conducted their first youth summit, prior to the ADAPT action and put emphasis on this area throughout the Week. Furthermore, there were many notable young advocates that attended the action. A fax was sent by ADAPT, thanking Republican National Committee Chair Ken Mehlman for passing MFP, While also occupying the GOP offices to get a meeting with him. ADAPT Wants Republican support for two additional measures that will assist states in successfully implementing MFP, namely Access Across America, the housing initiative that Will assure that people with disabilities have adequate housing as they leave nursing homes, shelters and other institutions and MiCASSA, which would remove the institutional bias from Medicaid.
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[Headline] "No More Excuses!" The ADAPT Fall Action in Washington, DC September 11-16, 2006, By Tim Wheat Day One: Monday, ADAPT arrived in the Nation's Capitol to demand action not explanations. "No More Excuses!" was the message that hundreds of activists from across the nation brought to the nation's capital. ADAPT was in Washington to remind the Congress, the Administration and the states that Americans prefer living in the community and expect action, not excuses. The message: End the institutional bias, gain equality in housing and continue to have a choice in health care services. The continuing focus of ADAPT is to destroy the barriers that keep people with disabilities in nursing homes and other institutions. Likewise, ADAPT is working to keep older Americans and persons with disabilities in their own homes with the services and supports they need. The lack [image] [image caption] Photo by Toni Olin [text continues] of affordable, accessible, integrated housing, the lack of personal assistance pro-grams in all states, and the movement to integrate long-term care services and supports into state acute health care managed care plans are the specific obstacles that ADAPT is working to overcome. Day Two: Tuesday, ADAPT Aims at Housing; Large and Small Housing Authorities will meet about accessible, affordable, integrated housing. "We want Kaiser!" echoed through-out the Grand Hyatt Washington as over 400 activists took over the hotel lobby and elevators, demanding a meeting with the head of The Public Housing Authorities Directors Association, Timothy G. Kaiser. ADAPT demanded and got that meet-ing, along with a meeting with the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA). Getting to the table with these groups is one more step to transition-ing people from institutions to their own homes. Nationwide Housing Authorities have the opportunity to help remove barriers to housing, so ADAPT activists demanded change. The grassroots experience of ADAPT [image] [image caption] Photo by Tom Olin [text continues] - actually working to help people to get out of nursing homes - points to answering the simple question of "where will you live?" ADAPT's proposal, Access Across America, is a direct answer to that question and a liberating call for our social policy to correct the isolation and confinement of people with disabilities. Early in the morning, ADAPT members were involved in training sessions at the Holiday ball Capitol ("the ADAPT Hotel"), then they gathered to leave before 10 AM. The group chanted as the long line of 500 activists snaked across the mall and into the business district. As the main body of the group turned east on "E" street, about 50 people suddenly broke off and headed west. "As we move out of nursing homes and other institutions, we need affordable, accessible, integrated housing to move into," said Cassie James, Philadelphia ADAPT Organizer. "An obvious place to start is with the nation's Public Housing Authorities. The PHAs have the ability to designate Section 8 housing vouchers specifically for use by people leaving nursing homes and institutions who are receiving home and community based services. We need to make sure the PHAs do just that - No More Excuses!" The larger group targeted the Legislative Affairs Convention of the Public Housing Authorities Directors Association (PHADA), held at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill. PHADA represents the professional. administrators of the country's approximately 1,900 housing authorities. Those housing authorities have the ability to link housing vouchers with Medicaid-eligible people transitioning to the community from shelters, nursing homes and other institutions. ADAPT insisted that PHADA endorse Access Across America to assist people with disabilities moving out of institutions, to increase the supply of accessible units and to make modifications to inaccessible units. The line of ADAPTers turned off the street and into the underground parking garage of the Hyatt. From there, the hundreds of activists strolled into the hotel and packed the lobby, chanting, "We want Kaiser! We want Kaiser!" Other activists put up signs on the stairs and landings of the posh lobby, while anxious Hyatt staff worked to take down signs. ADAPT members unfurled a long banner that read: Affordable, accessible, integrated housing. The banner was so long, activists had to weave it through the crowd and wind it around the escalator. Metro Police stepped in to negotiate with PHADA, and before noon Timothy G. Kaiser and Policy Analyst Jim Armstrong of PHADA agreed to hold a September 25 meeting with ADAPT. Just before news of the victory with PHADA was announced, word spread that the team at CLPHA would be arrested. The smaller ADAPT group had success-fully made it to the ninth floor offices and packed the hall from one end to the other. "The staff there at CLPHA were not happy to see us," said Nancy Salandra of Philadelphia ADAPT. "They had an attitude and were lecturing us like they were the oppressed little guys and we were worse than the dirt on their shoes." In true ADAPT fashion, when the office staff became a barrier, the negotiators flowed past the office employees "like water around a stone." CLPHA agents would not provide a, phone number for the director, but imaginative activists linked up with an individual in Kansas who was able to get the number of the administrative staff. ADAPT called CLPHA Board President, Sandra B. Henriquez, Administrator of the Boston Housing Author' t who agreed to an October 4 meeting with y, ADAPT. At about 1:30 the two ADAPT groups page 3 [text continues] linked up at the National Mall and headed back to the hotel. "The power of ADAPT-I love it," said Rahnee Patrick of Chicago. "I love when we split up and have an extra surprise target." Day Three: Wednesday, "We are not cash cows!" ADAPT's "No More Excuses" Campaign Spotlights Managed Care. ADAPT took over the lobby of another hotel, demanding that national managed care groups meet with them and consider essential principles for people with disabilities. States may soon expand the sue of managed care as a tool to control costs, so ADAPT struck America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) to ensure that gains made over the past 30 years for people with disabilities are included in managed care plans for Medicaid long-term care. Grassroots advocates are concerned that as states shift to more managed care, people with disabilities may lose many of the gains they have achieved. States have stalled in their implementation of the 1999 Olmstead decision that required services in the most integrated setting, and new MCO's may not see Olmstead as a priority. [image] [image caption] Individual in a cow costume stands with the crowd of protesters. Photo by Tom Olin [text continues] ADAPT activists marched into the lobby of the Capital Hilton, where AHIP and the American Association of Health Plans (AHHP) were holding a conference. The staff at the Hilton hopelessly attempted to block the door, even after hundreds had packed into the lobby. The activists trickled past the constriction at the door and joined the mass of people chanting, "We are not your cash cows, meet with ADAPT now." "That was amazing how we were all able to slip into hotel number two after yesterday's action," said Stephanie Thomas of Texas. "What a huge amount of noise we made. It was so loud that it was bizarre to be in that lobby when everyone had left. It was a stellar hit!" Some ADAPTers dressed up as cows to emphasize the point that a move to managed care should not be an opportunity to make money off the backs of people with disabilities. Long-term care services are vital to many people living in the community and being part of American life. Changes to the program can devastate the civil rights of people with disabilities who don't want to be made the target of their insurance companies. "This was my first action with ADAPT, and the lobby of the Hilton was something I've never seen before," said Toby Lusce of Topeka. "I usually just stay at home and don't do anything. But my friend Paul O'Dell said he knoews how to get me involved with something, and that was how I ended up here. I love this and I am going to get more involved." Day Four: Thursday, Twice the Success; ADAPT wins a meeting with the RNC and concessions from HUD. ADAPT's "No More Excuses" campaign continued its dazzling success Thursday with two traditionally stubborn organizations. ADAPT won a meeting with the chair-person of the Republican National Committee (RNC), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) committed to write a letter to public housing authorities concerning a preference for housing subsidies for people with disabilities leaving institutions. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) had already signed on as a MiCASSA Supporter, but the RNC had not. Thomas Josefiak of the RNC signed a letter committing Chairperson Ken Mehiman to a meeting with ADAPT. (Mehlman has since resigned.) ADAPT had success this legislative term with the passage of the federal Money Follows the Person, a bill that will help people avoid expensive and undesirable institutionalization. The RNC meeting with ADAPT will include ways this legislation can be implemented. Also on the agenda will be MiCASSA in 2007. "We have not been able to get in the front door at the Republican National Committee for the last five years," said John Donnelly of New York. "We have been try-ing to make them talk about our issues, so it seems they have acquired some common sense. It would be wise for them to meet with us." "It was unbelievable that it came so fast," said Daniese McMullen-Powell, about the negotiations with the RNC to- [image] [image caption] ADAPT outside RNC. Photo by Tim Wheat [image] [image caption] ADAPT outside HUD. Photo by Torn Olin [text continues] day. "I didn't expect them to agree to our demands so quickly. But now we have a meeting with Ken Mehlman after the election and before the end of the year." ADAPT activists also have a long his-tory of direct action with HUD, and with the renewed initiative started with the public housing authorities, ADAPT had to act to get the Department's cooperation. A year ago, ADAPT, through direct action, was able to begin a positive dialogue with Secretary Alphonso Jackson, but progress had slowed.
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[Headline] Catholic Entities Back Bill To Help Disabled Avoid Nursing Homes WASHINGTON (CNS) The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and two other national Catholic organizations have backed proposed federal legislation that would enable many people with disabilities to live in their communities instead of in nursing homes. The legislation would help those with disabilities use Medicaid resources to choose independent living, with reliance on community-based services, over Medicaid-funded institutionalized care. In a joint letter to key House and Senate sponsors of the bill, the heads of the USCCE Committee on Domestic Policy, the Catholic health Association of the United States and the National Catholic Partnership on Disability urged passage of the Medicaid Community-Based Attendant Services and Supports Act, known as M3CASSA. "With the services that MiCASSA would make available, more people with disabilities will be able to move from institutional care to lives of independence in their communities," the Catholic leaders said.
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