THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Vice President
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release July 25, 2000
VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES NEW MEASURES PROMOTING HOME AND
COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES AND HOUSING OPTIONS
FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Commemorates the 10th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Today, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Americans with
Disabilities Act, Vice President Gore announced that the Clinton-Gore
Administration will launch a series of major new initiatives designed to
promote the delivery of home and community-based services and support
for people with disabilities.
The initiatives include a new $50 million investment in FY 2001 to help
states more easily offer services to people with disabilities in the
most integrated setting appropriate to their needs; new guidance to
state Medicaid directors on Medicaid coverage of home and community
based services to help them comply with the recent Olmstead Supreme
Court ruling; and a new public-private partnership between the
Administration and the National Program Office on Self-Determination to
help individuals with disabilities in institutions transition into
community-based settings. In addition, the Vice President also
announced new plans to increase home ownership; extend work incentives
for individuals with disabilities to a broader range of housing
assistance programs; and promote the development of new assistive
technology for people with disabilities. Finally, the Vice President
emphasized the Administration's strong support for health care and work
incentives legislation of particular importance to people with
disabilities, including a Medicare prescription drug benefit, a strong,
enforceable Patients' Bill of Rights; a $1,000 tax credit for
work-related expenses for people with disabilities and a $3,000 long
term care tax credit for Americans with long-term care needs.
"I am proud of the progress we have made at turning the goals of the
Americans with Disabilities Act into reality," Vice President Gore said.
"I can think of no better way to build on our progress and celebrate
this day than by taking steps towards assuring that Americans with
disabilities have the opportunity to live and work in their communities
if they so choose."
Today, the Vice President will announce new measures to:
Enhance State Capacity to Provide Home and Community-Based Services.
Declaring that, "no one should have to live in an institution or nursing
home if they prefer to live in the community with the right support,"
the Vice President announced a $50 million investment by the
Administration in FY 2001 to help states develop comprehensive plans to
provide services to persons with disabilities in the most integrated
setting appropriate to their needs. These new grants, proposed today,
will be funded from the previously unspecified portion of the health
care quality assurance fund announced in this year's midsession review
and are identical to those included in the Medicaid Community Attendant
Services and Supports Act of 1999. As a condition of receiving funds,
states would actively involve people with disabilities and their
families in the development of programs enabling people with
disabilities to choose where they want to live and receive services.
These funds would be used to:
-- Conduct intensive outreach efforts to educate people with
disabilities about the home and community-based options currently
available to them;
-- Enhance inter-agency coordination and single point of entry
activities; and
-- Identify, develop, and implement strategies to modify state
policies that result in the unnecessary institutionalization of people
with disabilities rather than the provision of home and community-based
services, and implement other system change activities.
Release New Guidance to States on Home and Community-Based Medicaid
Coverage Rules Following the Olmstead Supreme Court Decision. Today,
the Vice President announced new guidance to states on their
responsibilities in the Medicaid program to support the implementation
of the Olmstead Supreme Court decision. States and disability advocates
have confirmed that the lack of guidance is undermining their ability to
rapidly initiate and provide access to essential home and
community-based services necessary to be in compliance with Olmstead.
It clarifies existing options to: assist people with disabilities in
making a successful transition into the community; expand the
availability and quality of community-based services; and ensure that
home and community- based services are equally available to all
qualifying individuals with disabilities. These guidelines will clarify
that:
-- Individuals do not have to be confined to their homes for personal
assistance services to be covered under the Medicaid home health
benefit, and that to require people receiving these services to be
confined to their homes is a violation of the Medicaid statute;
-- States with home and community-based services are allowed to pay
for personal assistance services while waiver participants are
hospitalized or away from home;
-- States can receive Federal funding for targeted case management for
individuals leaving institutions for community residences in order to
facilitate their access to necessary medical, social, and educational
services in the community; and
-- States have the option to provide prevocational, educational, and
supported employment services under Medicaid waivers to people of all
ages in all target groups.
Create a Nearly $20 Million Investment in a Public-Private Partnership
to Help Individuals with Disabilities Transition into Community Living.
Today, Vice President Gore announced that HHS and HUD will commit to a
new investment, subject to appropriations, of nearly $20 million over
five years in a public-private partnership with the National Project
Office on Self Determination. The agencies are committing $5.5 million
for the first year subject to the availability of the appropriation, and
are seeking to commit an additional $14 million over the life of the
partnership. This unique partnership, which will also utilize on
multi-million dollar investments already made by these agencies, is
entitled Access Housing 2000. It will focus on expanding the
availability of accessible, affordable housing for people with
disabilities and providing necessary support to enable individuals with
disabilities make the transition from institutional settings to
community living.
Expand Incentives for Employment for Individuals with Disabilities to a
Broader Range of Housing Assistance Programs. The Vice President
announced that the Administration will issue a new rule that would
expand incentives for employment for people with disabilities, extending
earned income disregards, currently applicable only to public housing,
to tenant-based Section 8 housing vouchers, the HOME program, the
Housing for Opportunities for People with AIDS program, and the
Supportive Housing for the Homeless program. The Administration is also
working on legislative changes to extend the disregards to the remaining
housing programs. The new rule will also clarify that deductions for
disability-related expenses, such as medical or attendant care expenses,
are applicable to the entire range of HUD housing programs.
Increase Home Ownership for Persons with Disabilities. The Vice
President announced that HUD will send guidance to all approved FHA
mortgagees emphasizing the agency's commitment to promoting home
ownership for persons with disabilities. The letter encourages HUD's
lender partners to make home ownership possible for individuals with
disabilities through increased, but prudent flexibility when
underwriting their loan applications.
Establish a National Mental Health Coalition to Promote Community-Based
Services for Individuals with Mental Illnesses and Substance Abuse
Disorders. Vice President Gore announced that the Center for Mental
Health Services at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) will work with a broad-based group of public and
private organizations, constituencies and consumers to create state and
local coalitions to assist persons with mental illnesses and substance
abuse disorders in accessing necessary services.
Develop and Deploy Assistive Technology and Technology that Enables
Universal Design. The Vice President announced an Executive Memorandum
requiring that the Interagency Committee on Disability Research publish
a report identifying priority areas for the development and advancement
of assistive technologies and universal design capabilities, and that
Federal agencies then develop a strategy for transferring such
technology for the benefit of people with disabilities.
Announcements complement the Clinton-Gore Administration's longstanding
commitment to providing high quality health care and work incentives for
people with disabilities. The Clinton-Gore Administration has proposed
several additional initiatives to ensure that individuals with
disabilities receive high quality health care and do not face barriers
to employment, including:
-- Supporting families with long-term care needs through a $3,000 tax
credit. This new tax credit supports the diverse needs of families by
compensating a wide range of formal or informal long-term care for
people of all ages with three or more limitations in activities of daily
living (ADLs) or a comparable cognitive impairment. It would provide
needed financial support to over 500,000 non-elderly adults.
-- Providing a new $1,000 tax credit to offset some of the formal and
informal costs associated with employment for people with disabilities.
Eligible workers with disabilities would receive a $1,000 tax credit
beginning in 2000. This would help about 200,000 to 300,000 people, at
a cost of $700 million for 2000-04.
-- Providing a real Medicare prescription drug benefit for people with
disabilities. There are five million people with disabilities on
Medicare. The Administration has proposed a Medicare prescription drug
benefit option that does not rely on private insurers that have failed
to extend prescription drug coverage to people with disabilities; is
affordable and meaningful; and adequately financed and part of a plan to
improve Medicare.
-- Fighting for a real Patients' Bill of Rights. The Clinton-Gore
Administration has been fighting for a strong, enforceable, Patients'
Bill of Rights for over two years. The Administration has endorsed the
Norwood-Dingell legislation, the only bipartisan proposal currently
being considered that: protects all Americans in all health plans;
requires all health plans to ensure continuity of care for patients in
the middle of a course of treatment; prevents patients accessing
emergency room care from financial sanctions; guarantees access to
necessary and accessible health care specialists; and meaningful
enforcement mechanisms that ensure recourse for patients who have been
harmed as a result of a health plan's actions.
###
|
