From April 28 to May 3, 500 ADAPT members converged on Capitol Hill to gain legislative support for the Community Choice Act of 2007, the latest evolution of what has for years been called the Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act (MiCASSA). 

The new bill, which is an amendment to Title XIX of the Social Security Act,  gives individuals who are eligible for nursing home services or other institutional care equal access to community-based services and supports. The legislation also provides enhanced federal matching funds to help states develop their long-term care infrastructure and grant funds to help states increase their ability to provide home and community-based services. And this bill creates a demonstration project to evaluate service coordination and cost sharing approaches for those eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare services.

During the ADAPT action, 99 activists were arrested while they occupied the Rayburn building with the goal of forcing a hearing on the Community Choice Act by legislators. Many members of the House of Representatives’ offices are in the Rayburn building. As a result of the demonstration and ensuing arrests, a public hearing is promised for this fall.
“This type of legislation was introduced 10 years ago,” says Daniese McMullin-Powell, an ADAPT activist from Delaware who has been pushing for reform since 1996. MiCASSA was first introduced as the Medicaid Community Attendant Services Act in 1997. “Back then, ADAPT wanted 25 percent of the money to go to home, community-based services. We’ve got more than that now but it’s not enough. People shouldn’t be languishing in nursing facilities until the day they die. That’s a life sentence and they didn’t break any law.”
If passed, the Community Choice Act would make home, community-based services a civil right for people with disabilities and would be the “exclamation point” to the recently passed Money Follows the Person and the Olmstead decision of 1999.

To show your support, contact your senators about the Community Choice Act  and your representative about the House version ( HR 1621).

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