[Nfb-greeley] Fw: [Colorado-talk] Call Gardner about Proposed Medicaid Cuts

Thu Jun 22 17:13:21 UTC 2017

This is important.  Call cory gardner about voting against the healthcare bill in the senate.  Read the message below.  %the numbers  to senator Gardner's offices are contained in the message below.  

Best regards,
Melissa R. Green

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Dan Burke via Colorado-Talk  <colorado-talk at nfbnet.org>
To: colorado-talk at nfbnet.org
Date: 06/22/2017 9:14 am
Subject: [Colorado-talk] Call Gardner about Proposed Medicaid Cuts

>
>
> 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.
> 
> 3rd party ad content frame
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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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