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Speaker Gingrich and Minority Leader Gephardt to testify at Hearing for MiCASA
(Washington DC, March 12) The House Commerce Committee, Health and Environment Subcommittee will hold a hearing on H.R. 2020, the Medicaid Community Attendant Services Act (MiCASA) at 10AM, in the Rayburn House Office Building. H.R. 2020 was introduced by Speaker Newt Gingrich on June 24, 1997, and it soon gained bipartisan support when Rep. Richard Gephardt (D Missouri) signed on as a co sponsor, just weeks later.
H.R.2020, when passed, will give 2.3 million Americans living in nursing homes and other institutions real choice in long-term care. People will be able to choose to receive services they need in their own homes rather than being forced into institutions. Money will follow the individual, resulting in consumer control and market incentives, rather than funding a facility.
At 9AM several hundred members of ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today), NCIL (National Council on Independent Living) and other disability and aging groups will show support for H.R. 2020 at a press conference and rally in front of the Rayburn House Office Building. The press conference will feature Justin Dart, who recently won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Michael Auberger, national ADAPT organizer, other disability leaders and people who have been locked away in institutions.
Under current Medicaid policy, nursing homes are considered an entitlement for people who need that level of care. States must provide nursing home care, however, community based care is fragmented with each state setting it's own policy, and some offering none. In fact, 80% of the Medicaid's long term care budget is spent on institutions. MiCASA would change that, and allow people to choose home, with appropriate support and services, instead of a nursing home or other institution.
Both Gingrich and Gephardt will present testimony, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Holly Caudill. Last September, Caudill, a quadriplegic, spoke with the President about the need for a national attendant care policy and in the White House Roosevelt Room, a moved Clinton promised Caudill, "Get me the legislation and I'll sign it".
"There's a lot of rhetoric endorsing community based services," says national ADAPT organizer Bob Kafka from Austin. "It's Mom and apple pie. Everybody loves disabled people and elderly people. But the rhetoric doesn't convert into public policy. That's why we must pass MiCASA."
54 million Americans have some level of disability, 26 million people have a severe disability. [Current Population Reports. U.S. Department of Commerce - Census Bureau. Aug. 1997 p. 70-61]
The Memphis Center for Independent Living
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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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