Important Action Alert! Medicaid Redesign Proposals Risk the Independence of People with Disabilities

Issue: Support Disability Advocates in Albany - Urge your legislators to Defend Our Freedom!

Action: Click on "TAKE ACTION" and send a message to your representatives to ensure they are aware of your concerns in the 2011-12 State budget using the message below. Feel free to edit the message and make it more personal by including stories as to how some of the proposals would affect you and / or the people you serve.

Please distribute this alert far and wide to ensure a large volume of messages while we are in Albany!

TAKE ACTION!

Background: Over 250 people with disabilities and attendants are rallying in Albany on Tuesday, March 15, to DEFEND OUR FREEDOM! The disability rights community is united in the face of harmful proposals and cuts to the services and supports needed to maintain our independence in the community.

We are urging our legislators to make a commitment to implement the Community First Choice (CFC) Option available in the Affordable Care Act and carve out the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) from being placed in Medicaid Managed Long Term Care (MLTC).

People with disabilities who use home care depend on the stability of those services for their day to day independence. Even small cuts or caps in service, changes in how programs are managed, addition of co-payments, or other limitations can tip the delicate balance and force people into nursing homes and other institutions ... which in the end are more costly to Medicaid.

We believe the State must ensure that the right to receive services in the most integrated setting is not threatened by enrollment in Medicaid Managed Long Term Care. The State should also advance affordable, accessible, integrated housing and should publicly commit to steps for substantive involvement of people with disabilities and disability rights advocates in the planning process for implementing all the recommendations of the Medicaid Redesign Team, including Managed Long Term Care.

Supporting and promoting greater independence is the right way to control Medicaid Long Term Care costs, not arbitrary caps.