Welcome to ADAPT!

ADAPT is a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom.

National Action: April 21-26, 2012

ADAPT is in Washington DC to fight the institutional bias and advocate to Defend Our Freedom! Follow the action through Twitter at @Nationaladapt or Facebook by "liking" the National Adapt Group Page.

Also, check out our last action at ADAPT Action Report. ADAPT fought to ensure that the US Congress Super Committee did not make arbitrary cuts to Medicaid while developing a ten-year budget plan for the United States. See ADAPT's Medicaid Savings Proposals.

Aljazeera Opinion Article on Medicaid Rally

Community First Choice Option

Update on the CFC Rules
As of October 1, 2011, states were eligible to select the Community First Choice Option, a provision of the Affordable Care Act. On April 24, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that the Community First Choice Option rules had been sent to the Federal Register for publication. Once the rules are public, ADAPT and others will be reviewing them and fighting to see the option implemented in the states. U.S. Senator Tom Harkin thanked ADAPT for being a major force to push the government to release these rules. We have waited long enough to FREE OUR PEOPLE! Stay tuned for action alerts and information on the CFC Option rules.

Fun Run for Disability Rights

ADAPT's Fun Run for Disability Rights was on Sunday, April 22, 2012 in Upper Senate Park. It's not too late to donate! Click on the button "Donations to ADAPT" in the menu to the left.

ADAPT was honored to announce that Noah Wyle, currently starring in "Falling Skies," joined us at the ADAPT 7th Annual FUN RUN for Disability Rights as our 2012 "Celebrity Fun Runner".

All proceeds go to support disability rights.

For more information Fun Run Announcements or visit the Fun Run Website

Update on State Activities
Several states have already indicated that they will be selecting the option. California has formed a CFC Development and Implementation Council and has an aggressive timeline for CFC Implementation. New York has announced that it will be selecting the option. Maryland has confirmed that the state will select the option. Alaska, Rhode Island and Washington all indicated in a Families USA survey that they would be selecting the CFC Option in the coming year. In the same survey, Arizona has indicated that the state is considering selecting the option.

Whether your state is moving forward with the CFC Option or you are advocating that they do, ADAPT's Community First Choice Option Fact Sheet explains the basics for you. We have also developed Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about CFC as well as a sample letter you can edit to send to your State Medicaid Director to ask for a meeting about your state selecting the CFC Option.

TAKE ACTION!

Proposed Department of Labor Changes Could Promote Institutionalizations

The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed changes in federal labor rules that, although well-intentioned, will have a negative impact on people with disabilities and most seriously impact people who have the most significant disabilities who rely on Medicaid home and community based services to be independent.

ADAPT recognizes the invaluable role that attendants play in supporting the independence of people with disabilities and has advocated for increased funding for attendant services to improve wages, however the way DOL is implementing this rule change will have a serious negative impact on people with disabilities and promote unwanted institutionalization.

Send comments to the Department of Labor here!

Learn more at this link!

Read about the personal impact of these changes here.

Read the NDLA sign on letter this link!

Managed Care

The expansion of Medicaid managed care that includes long term services and supports for people with disabilities and older people confronts us with the challenge of how to assure that the advances we have made in developing a person centered, consumer directed, community based system is not diminished or eliminated. Managed care has some positive opportunities as well as potential for negative outcomes.

States are developing Requests for Proposals that HMOs must respond to. The HMOs selected to administer the program then must sign a contract with the state that outlines what they must provide, how it is delivered, how the state will evaluate their performance and how the HMOs will be reimbursed. Advocates should be at the table telling the state what “best practices” to put in the RFP. In addition there must be some accountability in the managed care contract to assure that community integration is the outcome we want.

Two resources for advocates at the state level are Guiding Principles for Serving Individuals with Disabilities through Medicaid Health Plans that National ADAPT negotiated with the American Health Insurance Programs (AHIP)in 2007 and proposed Community Integration Performance Indicators (CIPI) that ADAPT of Texas has recently developed to assess how their managed care program in Texas (StarPlus) is doing in providing LTSS.

Check out the September 21, 2011 National My Medicaid Matters Rally

ADAPT and over 90 disability, aging and civil rights groups sponsored the historic My Medicaid Matters rally, the biggest gathering of disability advocates in the nation's capital since the ADA signing.More Rally Information.

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