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(WASHINGTON, June 24) Today, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich introduced American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today's (ADAPT) legislation known as CASA (Community Attendant Services Act).
This historic legislation will give the 2 million Americans held hostage by the nursing homes and institutions the choice in where and how they live. "Disabled Americans for the first time will have real choice in whether they live at home or go to an institution," explained Mike Auberger, national ADAPT organizer.
CASA will redirect Medicaid's long-term funding from nursing homes to home- and community-based services. Currently, the United States spends 80 percent of these dollars in nursing homes. For what it costs to serve one American in a nursing home, CASA will allow services to be provided for two disabled persons in their own homes. "This historic legislation is consistent with America's goal of empowerment and liberty for all -- including disabled people," said Mike Auberger.
June 25, 1997 9:23 Eastern Time
SECTION: NATIONAL DESK, HEALTH CARE WRITER
LENGTH: 416 words
HEADLINE:Gingrich Introduces Attendant Services Act for Disabled Americans
CONTACT:Mike Auberger, Bob Kafka, 202-289-5959, or Joe Ehman,
202-842-4466, all of the American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, June 25
BODY:
The following was released by the American Disabled for Attendant Programs
Today (ADAPT):
HR 2020 states that any individual who is entitled to nursing home or other
institutional services will now have the choice where and how these services are
provided. The vision of "Our Homes Not Nursing Homes," will finally become a
reality for many of the two million Americans currently residing in nursing
homes.
HR 2020 will clearly free disabled and elderly people by the thousands from
nursing homes and other institutions. Currently, the United States spends 80
percent of Medicaid dollars in nursing homes. HR 2020 will allow the money to
follow the individual into the community. "This historic legislation is
consistent with America's goal of empowerment and liberty for all -- including
disabled people," said Mike Auberger, ADAPT organizer.
Attendant services pr ovided in disabled peoples' homes include help with
dressing, bathing, eating, toiletting, and ventilator care. There is no known
medical reason why these services have to be provided in an institutional
setting. With HR 2020, the consumer will control the delivery of these everyday
services.
HR 2020 will forever change the way America views disabled people. For the
first time, all Americans with disabilities will truly be free to pursue the
American dream.
June 25, 1997 9:27 Eastern Time
SECTION: NATIONAL DESK, TRANSPORTATION
LENGTH: 389 words
HEADLINE:Disabled Americans Demand Meeting with DOT Secretary
CONTACT:Mike Auberger, Bob Kafka, 202-289-5959, or Joe Ehman,
202-842-4466, all of the American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, June 25
BODY:
The following was released by the American Disabled for Attendant Programs
Today (ADAPT):
ADAPT has paid a visit to Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Rodney
Slater's office located at DOT headquarters at L'Enfant Plaza. All four entrances to the building were occupied by ADAPT. The Disability
Rights activists blockaded doors, elevators and hallways while the police
helplessly looked on.
ADAPT demanded that Secretary Slater enforce Title III of the Americans with
Disabilities Act. Title III deals with accessible transportation. DOT has
allowed Greyhound to get away with segregating people with disabilities.
Greyhound humiliates and abuses disabled people who need to ride their buses.
Greyhound not only has no wheelchair lifts on their buses, but also has no
intentions of buying lift-equipped buses in the future. This is clear
discrimination against wheelchair users. No other segment of society is barred
from accessing Over the Road transportation.
ADAPT also demanded a meeting with Secretary Slater within the next 60 days.
After four hours of loud and angry protests, Secretary Slater agreed to the
meeting. At this meeting, ADAPT will demand that DOT issue regulations requiring
all new Over the Road Coaches have wheel chair lifts by Sept. 1, DOT fine
Greyhound for failures in service, publicize complaints and begin stringent
enforcement of any failure to comply with current and future service
requirements. ADAPT also demands a public apology to the disability community
for DOT's total negligence in enforcing the ADA.
June 23, 1997 13:45 Eastern Time
SECTION: NATIONAL DESK, HEALTH CARE WRITER
LENGTH: 509 words
HEADLINE:Gingrich Introduces to House ADAPT's CASA Legislation
CONTACT:Mike Auberger, Bob Kafka, 202-289-5959, or Joe Ehman,
202-842-4466, all of the American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, June 23
BODY:
Today, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich introduced American Disabled for
Attendant Programs Today's (ADAPT) legislation known as CASA (Community Attendant
Services Act).
This historic legislation will give the 2 million Americans held hostage by the nursing
homes and institutions the choice in where and how they live. "Disabled Americans for the
first time will have real choice in whether they live at home or go to an institution," explained
Mike Auberger, national ADAPT organizer.
CASA will redirect Medicaid's long-term funding from nursing homes to home- and
community-based services. Currently, the United States spends 80 percent of these dollars in
nursing homes. For what it costs to serve one American in a nursing home, CASA will allow
services to be provided for two disabled persons in their own homes. "This historic legislation
is consistent with America's goal of empowerment and liberty for all -- including disabled
people," said Mike Auberger.
Under CASA, the Medicaid money that currently goes towards institutions and nursing
homes will instead follow the disabled person into the community. "Disabled people will have
the power to select, manage and control their attendant services if they wish. CASA will allow
a program of attendant services that is as non-medical as possible," explained ADAPT
organizer Bob
Kafka.
Attendant services are help with dressing, bathing, eating and toiletting and ventilator
care. There is no known medical reason why these services need to be provided in institutions
such as nursing homes. With CASA, these everyday services will be provided in disabled
peoples' own homes instead.
ADAPT will hold a press conference immediately following the introduction of
CASA into the House of Representatives at the Rotunda at 2 p.m. today.
June 18, 1997 9:25 Eastern Time
SECTION: NATIONAL DESK, HEALTH CARE WRITER
LENGTH: 603 words
HEADLINE: Disabilities Group Protests at DOL; Gains Meeting with Clinton
CONTACT: Mike Auberger, 202-289-5959, Jennifer Burnett, 202-842-4466, or Joe Ehman,
202-842-4466, all of the American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, June 18
BODY:
Members of a national disability rights organization, ADAPT, held a protest at the
Department of Labor, forcing the White House to keep its promise made November 1996.
Three hundred members of ADAPT occupied the building while ADAPT representatives
negotiated with White House staff, forcing a meeting with the president scheduled for Sept. 10.
The protest was a result of a Clinton Administration promise. In November 1996 a letter
was sent to ADAPT by Assistant to the President Alexis Herman, promising a meeting between
ADAPT and the president in the first quarter of 1997. The meeting never took place.
Alexis Herman is now Secretary of Labor, and ADAPT went to her office to demand
accountability for the promise.
The protest caused an immediate reaction from the president's office. The current
Assistant to the President Maria Eschaveste and ADAPT member Bob Kafka negotiated an
agreement over the telephone. She then faxed a confirmation to ADAPT at the Department of
Labor, verifying that the White House Office of Public Liaison had not only arranged the meeting
with the president but would also coordinate a policy meeting on Wednesday, June 25. This
policy meeting will include Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, the heads of
Domestic Policy Council, National Economic Council, the Office of Public Liaison and ADAPT.
In a letter to ADAPT dated June 16, Echaveste wrote, "We are ready to begin substantive
policy discussions immediately and are waiting for ADAPT to propose dates for the first meeting."
ADAPT is in Washington to support the passage of CASA, Community Attendant Services Act (CASA), which is expected to be introduced next week by Speaker of the House Newt
Gingrich. This legislation will redirect Medicaid's long term care funding from nursing homes to
home and community- based services. It will allow people to live in their own homes by providing
services in the community instead of in nursing homes and other institutions.
ADAPT spent the afternoon surrounding the Bus Terminal stopping buses in downtown
D.C., sending a message to Greyhound that access is a civil right. Last year Greyhound
maneuvered a delay in the development of ADA regulations regarding over the road coaches.
With this delay in place, Greyhound is planning to purchase new inaccessible buses.
June 18, 1997 9:25 Eastern Time
SECTION: NATIONAL DESK
LENGTH: 562 words
HEADLINE: Disability Rights Activists Demonstrating in Washington
CONTACT: Mike Auberter, 202-289-5959, Jennifer Burnett or Joe Ehman, 202-842-4466,
all for the American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, June 16
BODY:
The following was released today by the American Disabled for Attendant Programs
Today (ADAPT):
Disability rights activists are in Washington, D.C., for two weeks to demonstrate to
President Clinton, Congress and all Americans just how important the passage of CASA
(Community Attendant Services Act) is for this country. In an earnest attempt to hold President
Clinton to unfulfilled promises he's made for five years, 250 ADAPT members from across the
country marched to the White House yesterday. Concerned by the administration's clear lack of
commitment to honoring an agreement to meet with ADAPT, they hand-delivered a 6-foot-by-3-
foot signed letter to the president. A copy of that letter had been faxed to Clinton earlier in the
day.
"With over 2 million Americans with disabilities locked away in nursing homes and other
institutions, ADAPT must take a stand...." opens the letter, which goes on to chronicle the history
of broken promises the Clinton administration has made to ADAPT since 1992. The letter
mentions a phone call made to the home of ADAPT member Mike Oxford of Kansas at 4 p.m.
on June 13, 1997, by White House spokesperson Bill White. White told Oxford that ADAPT
should now begin to meet with HCFA (Health Care Financing Committee) and the Domestic
Policy Council before meeting with the president in September.
The letter to Clinton goes on to explain why this is not acceptable. If this was a serious
offer of preparations for a meeting with the president, why wasn't this brought up in November
1996, asked ADAPT organizer Bob Kafka. "Given the history of the White House and its
dealings with ADAPT, we cannot accept this phone call as a formal, serious invitation.
Considering the previous promises detailed above, ADAPT must have a written commitment
signed by you stating your commitment to the principles of CASA as well as your commitment to
the process and date for our meeting."
ADAPT ends the letter by telling Clinton that unless they receive a written commitment by
5 p.m. today (June 16), they will have to consider the phone call made by Bill White, "another
delay tactic by the White House. We are waiting for your written commitment."
June 18, 1997 9:25 Eastern Time
SECTION: NATIONAL DESK, HEALTH CARE WRITER
LENGTH: 656 words
HEADLINE: ADAPT in Washington to Give Real Story on Nursing Home Industry
CONTACT: Mike Auberger, 202-289-5959, Jennifer Burnett or Joe Ehman, 202-842-4466
all of the American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, June 14
BODY:
The following was released by the American Disabled for Attendant Programs
Today (ADAPT):
ADAPT, American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, is in Washington, D.C., for
two weeks to give the American public the real story on billions of federal dollars wasted on the
nursing home industry.
They'll hold Newt Gingrich to his promise made to ADAPT in his hometown office in
Georgia, on Nov. 3, 1996. At that time, he signed a hand-written agreement with ADAPT: "to
help pass a law making attendant services available to people now stuck in nursing homes."
Twenty-four hours later, a phone call came to ADAPT from Air Force One, pledging President
Clinton's commitment to meet with ADAPT in the first quarter of 1997 to discuss support for
CASA.
ADAPT is a nationwide grassroots disability-rights group, and its members travel from
throughout the country twice a year to demonstrate and support a major change in the national
long-term care system. In the current system, nursing homes and other institutions are required by
states, so the industry has a free ride, an entitlement. However, there is no requirement for states
to provide in-home community-based attendant services. CASA will redirect money that now
goes to these institutions to fund a national community-based attendant services program by
allowing the dollars to follow the individual back into the community. ADAPT's message to
elected officials and the American public while in Washington, D.C., is "our homes not nursing
homes." According to Mike Oxford, ADAPT organizer from Kansas, "Funding for in-home and
community-based services must be a top priority for the 105th Congress."
Most Americans believe that nursing homes are a necessary evil, that older, frail people and
younger people with severe disabilities need to be in nursing facilities, and that this industry is
providing a decent, humane service by caring for those who can no longer live at home. But what
most Americans don't know is that the majority of people living in nursing homes could live at
home if appropriate community-based services were available. Speaker Gingrich now knows this.
He has committed his office to assist ADAPT in providing the option for people to live in the
community by sponsoring and introducing CASA by June 21. During a conference call with
ADAPT on June 7, Speaker Gingrich affirmed his position:
Copyright 1997 U.S. Newswire, Inc.
U.S. Newswire
Missy Jenkins, aide to Newt Gingrich, 202-225-4501
ADAPT HAS 20/20 VISION!!
U.S. Newswire, June 25, 1997
A bill, HR 2020, the Medicaid Community Attendant Services Act,
also known as CASA, was introduced today by Speaker of the House
Newt Gingrich.
Copyright 1997 U.S. Newswire, Inc.
U.S. Newswire
Copyright 1997 U.S. Newswire, Inc.
U.S. Newswire
Copyright 1997 U.S. Newswire, Inc.
U.S. Newswire
Copyright 1997 U.S. Newswire, Inc.
U.S. Newswire
Copyright 1997 U.S. Newswire, Inc.
U.S. Newswire
"I think that in the future, when people are diagnosed to be in a situation
where they get resources, the resources should follow the person and not go to the
institution."
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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