(Washington D.C.) ADAPT took over the lobby of a Washington DC hotel and demanded that national managed care groups will meet with them and consider essential principals for people with disabilities. US states may expand use managed care as a tool to control costs. ADAPT struck today to ensure that gains made over the past 30 years for people with disabilities are included in managed care plans for Medicaid long-term care.
ADAPT marched across town to stave off problems that could arise from more Medicaid long-term care being handled by Managed Care Organizations (MCOs). Grassroots advocates are concerned that a shift to more managed care by US states, for Medicaid long-term care, could result in turning back many of the gains that have been made. States have stalled in their implementation of the 1999 Olmstead decision that required services in the most integrated setting, and new MCOs may not see Olmstead as a priority.
ADAPT asked Karen Ignagni, the President and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) to develop a national proposal that will respect the principles of community integration, consumer direction and Independent Living. Ms Ignagni agreed to present the ADAPT principals to the governing board and will meet again with ADAPT in 30 days on the issues. She wrote a letter in her own handwriting to confirm the progress with ADAPT.
“It was good,” said Mike Oxford of Kansas about the negotiations with AHIP/AAHP. “They were honestly interested in working with us. [Karen Ignagni] was with the AFL-CIO and said she understood real people issues. Mostly, they know that they will need to work with us to meet their goals. They see that we can be good friends or powerful opponents, it is a new business opportunity in their minds.”
“They were really interested in our issues,” said Cecil Walker of Kansas, “and I believe, they sincerely wish to work with us.”
Yesterday, ADAPT spent the day working to ensure that affordable, accessible, integrated housing is available for people with disabilities leaving institutions and nursing homes. As a part of the “No More Excuses!” campaign, ADAPT focused on preventing setbacks to hard-won concepts like consumer direction and Independent Living. The ADAPT campaign follows the success of national Money Follows the Person legislation, and charges that no more reasons exist to isolate and segregate people with disabilities with social policy.
“We are making sure that the national guidance to MCO’s includes our philosophy,” said Randy Alexander of Memphis. “They are there to make money, and in Tennessee the negotiate their way out of providing services for more profit. We know that the MCOs will continue but we want them to know our views and to keep our principles.”
ADAPT activists were able to file into the lobby of the Capitol Hilton where AHIP and the American Association of Health Plans (AHHP) were holding a conference. The staff at the Hilton were unprepared for the visit and hopelessly attempted to block the door, even after hundreds were packed into the lobby. Like water around a stone, the activists trickled past the constriction at the door and joined the mass of people chanting, “we are not your cash cows, meet with ADAPT now.”
“That was amazing how we were all able to slip into hotel number two after yesterday’s action,” said Stephanie Thomas of Texas who was with a couple hundred ADAPT activists that used the underground parking entrance to fill the lobby of the Hyatt Regency yesterday. “What a huge amount of noise we made. It was so loud that it was bazzar to be in that lobby when everyone had left. It was a stellar hit.”
Some ADAPT activists dressed up as cows to emphasize the point that a move to managed care should not be seen as an opportunity to make money off the backs of people with disabilities. Long-term care services are vital to many people living in the community and being a part of typical American life. Changes to the program can have devastating effects on the civil rights of people with disabilities who demand to live in the community and not be locked away to make the target projection of their insurance company.
“This is my first action with ADAPT and the lobby of the Hilton was something I’ve never seen before,” said Toby Lusce of Topeka. “I usually just stay at home and don’t do anything. But my friend Paul O’Dell said he knows how to get me involved with something and that is how I ended up here. I love this and I am going to get more involved.”
Following the successful action at the Hilton, ADAPT marched back across town to the Sam Rayburn Office Building on Capitol Hill to listen in on the Judiciary Committee hearings on the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.
Recalling ADAPT’s take-over of the Senate Finance Committee in March of 2004 a guard at the Rayburn Building greeted an ADAPT activist by asking: “Will you behave today?”
The hearing addressed the practices of unscrupulous lawyers who file thousands of ADA lawsuits, claiming that the lawsuits are overwhelming and financially burdensome to small business owners to settle quickly. Former Congress member Tony Coelho was articulate in his support for the ADA redirected the focus of the inquiry to the civil-rights application of the law. He told of discrimination that he personally faced before the ADA became law and spoke of the Supreme Court’s limiting of the definition of disability.
“Someone from Senator Harkin’s staff just called to thank ADAPT for their presence at the ADA hearing and how glad they were that ADAPT showed support,” said Bob Kafka to the full complement of ADAPT gathered in the hotel ballroom. “That just goes to show the power of the grassroots. Even on these so-called ‘soft’ hits where there is no direct action, like showing our support, it is the grassroots that make a difference.”
