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(June 9) The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, will sponsor and introduce the Community Attendant Service Act (CASA) sometime during the week of June 9, 1997. CASA will provide Americans with the option to live in their own home, rather than being forced to live in a nursing home.
The Speaker met with American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), long-time proponents of CASA, on June 6, to reassure the grassroots organization of his commitment to choice in long-term care. Often people with disabilities are placed in nursing homes without their consent; moreover, the institution dominates the individual because it is made the benefactor of Medicaid funds. "The resources should follow the person," said Newt Gingrich, "and not go to the institution."
CASA is dignity. Instead of depending on a government subsidized institution for care, CASA will empower people with disabilities. Having control over how funds are used, returns dignity and authority to individuals that institutions can take away. Individuals, likewise, are often far more efficient with resources than institutions. For example, the national average annual cost to taxpayers to house one aging or disabled American in a nursing home is $40,784, while the similar cost to taxpayers where attendant care is offered as a choice is $9,692.
The Memphis Center for Independent Living
The Memphis Center for Independent Living
1633 Madison Avenue,
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 726-6404 v/tty (901) 726-6521 fax
mcil@mcil.org
MCIL is a United Way of the Mid-South member Agency
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