Kerry Statement on MiCASSA/MFP Hearing
The following statement by Senator Kerry was released in his
official capacity as Senator rather than presidential candidate. Nevertheless,
for the record, please note that AAPD is non-partisan and shares information
about candidates' disability-related policy positions for educational
purposes. In this presidential election and in future elections, we need to
ensure that candidates are speaking out publicly on our issues.
Jonathan Young
JFA Moderator, AAPD
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Statement of Senator John F. Kerry
Finance Committee Hearing
Strategies to Improve Access to Medicaid Home and Community Based Services
April 7, 2004
Last September, at the conclusion of ADAPT's "Free Our People" march, I joined
Senator Harkin and many other of my colleagues in calling for Congressional
hearings on the MiCASSA bill and for this landmark legislation to be enacted
without further delay. I appreciate the willingness of Chairman Grassley and
Ranking Member Baucus to conduct such an important hearing and believe this is
a crucial first step in bringing us closer to ending the institutional bias
that exists in Medicaid today.
But let's stop fooling ourselves. We don't need a hearing to discuss
strategies for improving home and community based services under Medicaid. We
know what works. We know what needs to be done. What we must do is to summon
the political will to make it happen. People with disabilities are rightfully
tired of the excuses they hear out of Washington and in State Houses across
the country on why, for one reason or another, they must wait for justice to
be delivered. Justice delayed is justice denied. No wonder people in
wheelchairs are chaining themselves to fences and taking to the streets. If
the tables were turned, we would be doing the same.
This is America. No one should be imprisoned in a nursing home or denied the
help they need to eat, bathe, dress and live in their communities. We must
right this wrong by making the policy changes necessary to fund people and
their needs, not just programs and their rules.
Let me start by saying that I am one of the biggest supporters you'll ever
meet for strengthening and protecting the Medicaid program. I strongly oppose
the Bush Administration's proposal to block grant it to the states. Medicaid's
entitlement should never be threatened. I am deeply concerned about the
growing trend among states using Medicaid as a source for service cutbacks and
eligibility restrictions to balance budget deficits. States are already
woefully in non-compliance with the Olmstead decision, in part, due to the
fiscal stresses many of their budgets are experiencing in this troubled
economy. Fiscal relief for states - in the form of higher Medicaid
reimbursements - should be a consideration during this federal budget cycle.
Without additional relief, optional Medicaid programs and benefits for people
with disabilities are sure to be threatened - from implementation of the
Ticket to Work and Work Incentive Improvement Act, to growing waiting lists
that result from reduced slots under current home and community based waiver
programs. But such funding should only be offered in exchange for assurances
that Medicaid coverage will be preserved or expanded - not used as a slush
fund for tax cuts or to cover other state funding shortfalls. Keeping Medicaid
strong should remain a top priority for this Committee.
But for all of Medicaid's strengths, there is one inherent weakness in the way
the program is structured - and that is the cruel choice that many people with
disabilities must make to receive any assistance at all: leave your home, your
family, your friends, and your community to live in an institution, or be
denied care. What kind of a choice is that? It's un-American. We must stand
for freedom, independence, and real choices for people with disabilities and
it starts with assuring equal access to community living services to people
with disabilities of all ages nationwide.
The ADA stands for the proposition that people with disabilities have the
right to be a part of the American community rather than to live their lives
separate and apart from it. For these reasons, I am a proud original cosponsor
of MiCASSA and the Money Follows the Person Act. Passage of both of these
bills is vital to ending the institutional bias that makes it impossible for
millions of Americans to exercise the most basic of human liberties: freedom,
choices, and independence. These are the birthright of every American. Our
nation's long-term care policies and programs must promote rather than
undermine these cherished values.
The time has come and gone for us to get serious about making these needed
changes to improve the lives of people with disabilities. I look forward to
working with you, Chairman Grassley, and members of the Committee, to move as
quickly as possible from just talking about the problem to actually
implementing the solutions. In the 1960's, Martin Luther King answered those
who claimed that we must go slow to right the great and seemingly insoluble
injustices of his day in a book entitled, "Why We Can't Wait." Today, we will
witness living proof of why we can't wait to right these grave and seemingly
insoluble injustices of our own day and time.
http://kerry.senate.gov/bandwidth/cfm/record.cfm?id=220194
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Last Updated on
04/24/04
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