[Colorado-talk] Call Gardner about Proposed Medicaid Cuts

Dan Burke burke.dall at gmail.com
Thu Jun 22 15:12:15 UTC 2017


Greetings -

Can you call Cory Gardner's office about Medicaid in the Senate
version of the health-care bill?

Revision of Obama Care proposes serious cuts to Medicaid.  Though only
14 percent of Medicaid recipients are people with disabilities, 40
percent of the costs are related to those people with disabilities.
Last week at Scott's request I attended a meeting at Cory Gardner's
office with advocates from 7 other disability groups in Colorado.  The
House's proposed cuts to Medicaid would have dire effects on many
people with disabilities, especially those who use home health or
personal care services.

The Denver Post front page this morning included an article about the
Senate's version of the health-care reform act.  The Senate will give
its first look at its version today - there have been no hearings or
debate in the Senate thus far, though they propose to vote by the end
of nest week.  The Post said the following about the first view of the
Senate version:

"The Senate proposal cuts off Medicaid expansion more gradually than
the House bill but would enact deeper long-term cuts to the health
care program for low-income Americans."

Julie Reiskin of CCDC published the opinion article pasted below
yesterday in The Hill.  We know this will affect some of our members
too because the home-health or personal care services are "optional"
and not required Medicaid services for each state.  The result would
likely be nursing homes for those folks who lose their community
supports.

So, Senator Gardner is a key vote.  Disability groups across the state
are organizing calls to his offices.  I've listed all the offices and
phone numbers because his Washington and sometimes Denver offices are
very busy.    Please call and ask the Senator Gardner vote no on any
bill with these severe cuts to Medicaid.

~Pueblo
P: (719) 543-1324
F: (202) 228-7174

Denver
P: (303) 391-5777
F: (202) 228-7171

Grand Junction
P: (970) 245-9553
F: (202) 228-7173

Greeley
P: (970) 352-5546
F: (202) 228-7172

Yuma
P: (970) 848-3095
F: (202) 228-7175

Colorado Springs
P: (719) 632-6706
F: (202) 228-7176

Fort Collins
P: (970) 484-3502

Washington, D.C.
P: (202) 224-5941
F: (202) 224-6524

Durango
P: (970) 259-1231
F: (970) 259-4276





The disabled will pay for the GOP’s Medicaid cuts
BY JULIE REISKIN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 06/21/17 05:00 PM EDT
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The disabled will pay for the GOP’s Medicaid cuts
© Getty Images

What does Medicaid have to do with independence? For millions of
Americans with disabilities, the answer is clear. As the nation’s
primary source of funding
for the services that help people with disabilities stay in their own
homes, Medicaid plays a vital role in protecting Americans with
disabilities from
institutionalization.

The disability community has long worked to ensure that people with
disabilities can be included in mainstream American life rather than
be forced into
nursing homes and institutions.

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In 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed the Home and Community-Based
Services provisions within Medicaid. These provisions are a huge part
of Medicaid
and are rooted in a simple reality: People with disabilities are less
safe, less happy and less free in institutional settings than they are
in the community.

An overwhelming body of research and evidence shows that people with
disabilities fare better in the community than in institutions,
enjoying greater choice
and control, better functional skills and an overall higher quality of life.

The Supreme Court agreed in the 1999 Olmstead decision saying that
states must provide services in the most integrated setting
appropriate to the needs
of the individual.  The court held that unnecessarily
institutionalizing people segregates them, and that this violates the
Americans with Disabilities
Act signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990.

It is Medicaid that provides the in-home aid who helps get an adult
with quadriplegia out of bed, dressed and able to go to work in the
morning. It is
Medicaid that provides the in-home occupational therapist who works
with the autistic child so she can live at home with her family — not
be pushed into
an institution. And, it is Medicaid that sends the home health nurse
to check on the senior, who might otherwise have to leave the home
where he lived
for 30 years and raised a family to live in a single room of a nursing home.

So the Republicans’ proposal to defund and change Medicaid is the
greatest threat the disability community has faced since the eugenics
movement in the
early 20th century.

Under the proposal passed by the House and currently before the
Senate, the structure of Medicaid would change from a partnership
between the federal government
and state governments to a system of “per capita caps.”  This means
that the amount of money that the federal government provides to
states would be capped,
or limited, to a certain fixed amount per Medicaid recipient, based on
2016 spending levels.

The goal of these “per capita caps” is to save the federal government
money — lots of money. An analysis from the Urban Institute suggests
that almost
half of the American Health Care Act’s $834 billion in cuts to
Medicaid would come from per capita caps, devastating services to
seniors, children and
people with disabilities in my home state of Colorado.

The AHCA was supposed to be about solving problems believed to be
caused by the Affordable Care Act.  However, changing the financing
will devastate programs
that have successfully helped people with disabilities of all ages
since the 80s.

The budget implications for states would be awful. States struggle to
balance their budget each year. Colorado state legislators cannot
simply add millions
of dollars to the Medicaid program.

Nor should they have to.

It is an appropriate role of the federal government to partner with
the states to provide Medicaid.  There is no other source of long-term
care funding
since neither Medicare nor private insurance covers long-term care,
such as home and community-based services.

Supporting people with disabilities, including elderly people with
disabilities, has always enjoyed bipartisan support. Currently the
most states pay is
50 percent, and states with more poverty pay less according to a match
formula in current law. Forcing the states to shoulder all of the risk
will create
economic chaos for states, as well as American families and
individuals, when the inevitable cuts are made.

Our country has had many years of slow but steady progress in
expanding access to community life for people with disabilities.
Slashing Medicaid funding
threatens to send us back in time.

For the sake of the millions of Americans with disabilities — who want
to stay in our communities with our neighbors, family and friends — we
cannot let
that happen. The United States is a proud leader and innovator on
cost-effective services for people with disabilities — we can manage
services at the
state level, but federal funding must remain steady.

Senate Republicans, including my own Sen.
Cory Gardner
 (R-Colo.), are now a part of critical deliberations among the GOP
lawmakers. The livelihood of people with disabilities, our families
and the many people
that earn a living providing home and community-based services are at stake.

The Senate should stick to our American values, fight to defend
Medicaid and reject per capita caps. The problems with the ACA can be
fixed without destroying
everything that matters to millions of Americans with disabilities.

Julie Reiskin is the Executive Director of the ColoradoCross
Disability Coalition.


-- 
Dan Burke
My Cell:  406.546.8546
Twitter:  @DallDonal




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