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VOR MICASSA ACTION ALERT
November 11, 2004
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1. ADAPT pushes Governors to adopt MiCASSA: VOR members urged to respond
2. Template letter
3. Contact information for Governors
4. Special note to members in PA and NM
5. Special note to members in IN, MO, MT, NH, UT and WV
6. ADAPT's MiCASSA Resolution
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1. ADAPT pushes Governors to adopt MiCASSA: VOR members urged to respond
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At the National Governors Association (NGA) winter meeting (February, 2005)
governors will be asked to adopt an ADAPT resolution supporting the passage
of the Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act (MiCASSA)
(see below for text of ADAPT's MiCASSA resolution).
First introduced in 1996, MiCASSA proposes the creation of a new mandatory
Medicaid entitlement for community-based personal attendant care services.
VOR Opposes MiCASSA. Although VOR supports the expansion of Medicaid
community-based personal attendant care services, we have opposed MiCASSA
since its original introduction. See
http://www.vor.net/s_971_&_h_r__2032.htm for our official position.
The problem with MiCASSA:
(1) An optional Medicaid benefit for personal attendant care services
already exists in the waiver law.
(2) The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the cost of the
proposed MiCASSA mandatory entitlement would exceed $10-20 billion in new
federal funding each year.
(3) Optional programs for persons with mental retardation, including
Intermediate Care Facilities for Persons with Mental Retardation (ICFs/MR)
and Home and Community-Based Waiver Services (HCBS), would be at serious
risk of elimination.
VOR urges you to write your Governor and ask that he/she oppose the ADAPT
resolution. A template letter and contact information is shared below for
your use and convenience.
Make no mistake: ADAPT is writing and will no doubt host a rally at the
February meeting. Write today so that VOR's voice is heard loud and strong!
[VOR's official response to governors regarding this proposal is available
upon request to VOR members].
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2. Template letter
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The Honorable Jane Doe
Address
Request: Oppose MiCASSA and related ADAPT resolution
Dear Governor Doe:
At the National Governors Association (NGA) Winter Meeting, ADAPT will urge
you to adopt its "Commitment To Community-based Long Term Care Services and
Support" resolution (herein after the "ADAPT resolution").
I strongly urge you to oppose this resolution. Passage of MiCASSA will have
tragic consequences for my family member with mental retardation.
Consider these points:
>MiCASSA proposes a mandatory Medicaid entitlement estimated by the
Congressional Budget Office to cost $10-20 billion in new annual federal
costs (a price tag that states will be required to match).
>The MiCASSA entitlement already exists as an optional service under
the waiver program.
>Peer-reviewed research has found that states will not save money
transferring individuals from large to small residential settings.
> Olmstead expressly supports choice: "We emphasize that nothing in
the ADA or its implementing regulations condones termination of
institutional settings for persons unable to handle or benefit from
community settings...Nor is there any federal requirement that
community-based treatment be imposed on patients who do not desire it."
119 S. Ct. 2176, 2187 (1999).
>Elimination of the facility option, as ADAPT supports, will lead to
greater costs and longer waiting lists. The facility option is needed by
the most fragile segment of the population with mental retardation. ADAPT
ignores this segment of its constituency.
>Facilities are the most cost-effective option for those people needing
that level of care. To eliminate the facility option will result in greater
community-costs and longer waiting lists (those leaving facilities receive
services first).
I speak from personal experience. My <FAMILY MEMBER> receives high quality
care at <SETTING>. Removing HIM/HER from this setting would be tragic. ADD
EXTRA DETAILS ABOUT YOUR LOVED ONE'S NEEDS.
Governor _____, thank you in advance of opposing the ADAPT resolution. When
ADAPT is beating down your door at the convention, just know they do not
speak for me.
Sincerely,
NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE, E-MAIL, FAX
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3. Contact information for Governors
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For Governor contact information visit
http://www.nga.org (link: Governors)
or contact Tamie at vor@compuserve.com.
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4. Special note to members in PA and NM
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PA: ADAPT got Governor Edward Rendell to agree to introduce the ADAPT
MiCASSA resolution at the Seattle meeting of the National Governors
Association (without success) and Gov. Rendell has indicated his intent to
re-introduce the resolution at NGA's February 2005 meeting.
NM: In October, Governor Bill Richardson signed and endorsed the ADAPT
resolution.
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5. Special note to members in IN, MO, MT, NH, UT and WV
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The following states will have new governors beginning in January 2005. You
are encouraged to write both your current Governor and your Governor-Elect.
In some cases, the transition will be amicable and it will helpful to have
the current and incoming administrations briefed on this important issue:
Indiana
Governor-Elect Mitch Daniels
1032 E. Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 56202
Missouri
Governor-Elect Matt Blunt
606 Dix Rd.
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Montana
Governor-Elect Brian Schweitzer
P.O. Box 4814
Whitefish, MT 59937
New Hampshire
Governor-Elect John Lynch
97 Eddy Road
P.O. Box 117
Manchester, NH 03105
Utah
Governor-Elect Jon Huntsman, Jr.
P.O. Box 27124
Salt Lake City, UT 84127
West Virginia
Governor-Elect Joe Manchin III
1614 Kanawaha Blvd.
Charleston, WV 25311
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6. ADAPT's MiCASSA Resolution
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http://www.adapt.org/micasaalerts/index.php?mode=A&id=649
RESOLUTION
Commitment To Community-based Long Term Care Services and Support
WHEREAS millions of people with disabilities and older Americans
currently need or will need long term services and supports to live in the
community and this number is expected to grow at a rapid pace over the
next three decades; and
WHEREAS the current long term care system is fragmented, overly
medicalized, bureaucratic, expensive with an institutional bias that
unnecessarily forces people with disabilities and older Americans in
nursing homes and other institutions; and
WHEREAS the Supreme Court in the Olmstead vs. LC & EW decision
ruled in 1999 that people have the right to services in the most
integrated setting; and
WHEREAS the American public overwhelmingly supports long term care
services and supports be provided in their own home and communities; and
WHEREAS the reform of the long term care (services and supports)
system must be a cooperative partnership between the federal government,
the states and the disability/older community,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the National Governors Association,
NGA, by a vote of the membership and the Executive Committee supports the
following:
A) The current long term services and support system has an
institutional bias that must be reformed through a cooperative effort by
the federal government, the states and the disability/older community
including those who use services; and
B) The long term services and support system must include the
principles that home and community services and supports are the first
priority and that support services should be provided in the most
integrated setting; and
C) No person with a disability or older American should be forced
into a nursing home or other institution because of the lack of integrated
home and community options; and
D) People with disabilities and older Americans must have full
inclusion in the design, implementation and review of the long term
services and support system; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NGA supports the passage and
funding of the Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act,
MiCASSA (currently S971 - HR 2032) and legislation that includes the Money
Follows the Person initiative (currently S.1394 - HR 1811); and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NGA work with the individual
states to assure that the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision is
aggressively implemented and that the measure of this implementation be,
in a year, how many people have gotten out of nursing homes and other
institutions and how many people have been diverted from nursing homes and
other institutions; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NGA work with the states to assure
that any 1115 waivers submitted by a State should have statewide public
hearings before development and submission to HHS, and that the 1115
waiver process should not be used to undercut current community Medicaid
services and federal protections; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NGA supports reform of the long
term services and support system that does not result in block granting,
capitating or otherwise reducing or eliminating funding to the states or
the removal of the current national Medicaid protections.
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION!!!
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