ADAPT takes fight against cuts of Medicaid home services to White House

From ADAPT on Sept. 20:

WASHINGTON, DC -- Three hundred members of ADAPT, the national disability rights grassroots organization, are at the White House, demanding that the Obama administration exercise concrete leadership in his commitment to expand and support community-based long term care services for people with disabilities and seniors on Medicaid.

ADAPT is demanding that Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President, and Melody Barnes, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy publicly address the ADAPT members assembled in front of the White House to answer specific proposals ADAPT is offering to work with the Administration.

"I want to know that the White House is actively working with consumers of
community-based long term care services to create federal expansion of consumer controlled and non-medical model long term services and supports," said Randy Alexander of ADAPT of Tennessee. "States should be accountable for saving money by directing Medicaid funds towards cost-saving community supports rather than costly institutionalization. In this fiscal crisis, that is the right thing to do."

President Obama created the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to address our nation's fiscal challenges. The Commission is charged with identifying policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run.

"It is vital that the Commission evaluate the fiscal unsustainability of the Medicaid institutional bias by hearing testimony from people with disabilities who personally use community-based long term care services and have been victimized by or are at risk of having their community based service hours cut," said Bruce Darling of Rochester ADAPT. "ADAPT has both grassroots and policy experience to offer the Commission to create a truly sustainable fiscal future for state long term care services."