FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contact: Allison Dobson / Maureen Knightly 
http://harkin.senate.gov  
(202) 224-3254 

January 20, 2004

Harkin Calls for Access to Community Based Services for Medicaid Recipients

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), along with Senators Gordon Smith (R-WA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), sent a bipartisan letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Democrat Max Baucus (D-MT) calling for a hearing on the institutional bias in the Medicaid program. The Medicaid statute requires that states provide nursing home care, but gives states the option of whether to offer home and community based services.

"Many people with disabilities and older Americans who rely on Medicaid are denied any choice about their living arrangements. They have to leave their homes and neighborhoods and say goodbye to friends and families," Harkin wrote. "This forced segregation violates American values of fairness and inclusion."

Harkin has introduced several bills to address this inequity, which are pending before the Finance Committee. The Money Follows the Person Act, S. 1394, co-sponsored with Senators Smith, Specter and others, would give states additional resources to provide home and community-based services to individuals choosing to leave a nursing home or institution. The Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act (MICASSA), S. 971, co-sponsored by Senator Specter and others, would require states to provide community based attendant services to individuals with disabilities and older Americans. Both bills are needed to fully address the lack of choice in the current Medicaid program.

"People with disabilities and older Americans have waited too long for Congress to address this grave injustice," said Harkin. "We need to shed light on this problem and enact legislation this year."