ADAPT Returns to Washington Like a Hurricane.
 (WASHINGTON DC, March 21, 2004) This past fall, Hurricane Irene hit the Washington DC area following the Free Our People March. In Fall 2002 a Hurricane interrupted the ADAPT Action planned for New Orleans; but today ADAPT storms into the Capitol to end the bias of Medicaid.
ADAPT activists talk of S. 971 and HR 2032, the bill numbers for MiCASSA and S. 1394 (Money Follows the Person) as the legislation that will give Americans choice in long-term care and stop the bias that devalues citizens and locks away Americans. Senators Tom Harkin (D, IA) and Arlen Specter (R, PA), and Representatives Danny Davis (D, IL) and John Shimkus (R, IL) introduced MiCASSA to reform Medicaid the Medicaid Community Attendants Services and Supports Act. Across the country 73% of the Medicaid funding is spent on institutions, despite the fact that people overwhelmingly prefer to live in their own homes.
Activists are demanding Congressional Hearings on MiCASSA and Money Follows the Person Act. This evening ADAPT will lead a march to the White House carrying the messages “No More Stolen Lives: End the Institutional Bias” and “No More Waiting for Home and Community Services.” ADAPT and the 700 other organizations supporting these bills want Grassley and Baucus to hold hearings and move the bills to the Senate floor.
ADAPT’s STOLEN LIVES campaign includes the first-hand accounts of people that have lived in nursing homes, intermediate care facilities and state hospitals. Discussion of Medicaid reform and nationwide long-term care finance can be sterile and distant from the everyday lives of people; however, ADAPT wants to remind policy-makers that the unfair system impacts real people, it takes lives.
“In this election year, it’s imperative that Congress and the President get their priorities straight. There are too many people in this country being denied the freedom we say we are fighting for around the world because those people are forced into nursing homes and other institutions by the Medicaid institutional bias,” said Bob Kafka, National ADAPT Organizer. “In essence, our failed public policy is stealing away years and lives from people who deserve so much better from their country. Our march to the White House on Sunday will be led by people who have been freed from institutional settings to enjoy typical lives in the community, and we will all be demanding ‘No More Stolen Lives’.”
Progress has been made over the past dozen or so years and more people that once were forgotten in facilities are now living in the community. One result of the progress is that individuals who have been unfairly institutionalized are now angry that the current national policy has stolen part of their lives and they are demanding that America change that policy. ADAPT is not simply pointing out problems in the nations long-term care system. ADAPT supports national legislation that will address this problem and bring choice to the fractured and outdated Medicaid system.
The advocates from across the nation came together at the Holiday Inn south of the capitol building. ADAPT is likely the most diverse group ever known. Most people notice the large number of wheelchair users in ADAPT, but ADAPT represents a broad spectrum of disabilities, as well as, diversity in race, creed, gender income and family status. ADAPT is a varied yet highly organized family.
ADAPT activists are fresh from the successful Free Our People March, a 144-mile civil rights march from Philadelphia to Washington DC to highlight the need for choices in long-term care. More and more Americans are demanding an end to the Medicaid bias that favors facilities and people with disabilities are leading the march to choice.
Today ADAPT advocates attended trainings and meetings all day in downtown Washington. There were workshops organized on MiCASSA and Money Follows the Person, Using Litigation for Systems Change, Housing and Olmstead Implementation. The “big meeting” including all the advocates started at 10 a.m. Activists made plans for the march on the White House planned for Sunday night from 5 to 8 p.m.
- Tim Wheat
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