ADA Shines Light on Community Choice Act
July 24, 2010 by William Johnson
Filed under Persons with Disabilities, STORIES OF SERVICE
The late Rev. Harold Wilke, a UCC disabilities activist who was born without arms, receives a pen with his foot from President George H.W. Bush upon signing the American Disabilities Act, July 29, 1990. (Photo courtesy of the Rev. C. Kit Wilke.)
It has been 20 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 29, 1990. The ADA’s innumerable accomplishments, including its broad effect on public attitudes toward persons with disabilities, are to be celebrated. Yet there is still much work to be done to ensure updated laws and enforcement of existing laws guarantee equal employment, federal and state protections and access to community-based resources. Today there are approximately 2 million persons with disabilities and older Americans living in institutions and nursing homes, most without the option of community-based care.
The Community Choice Act 0f 2009 (CCA) — Senate bill S 683 / House resolution HR 1670 — is in the hands of congressional committees. The bill would amend title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to require state Medicaid plan coverage of community-based attendant services and supports for Medicaid-eligible older adults and individuals with disabilities. The legislation would make the current funding stream more flexible and would ensure that every person would have a say in where and how their care and services would be provided. The legislation’s promise is to make degrading forced institutionalization a relic of the past.
The Social Security program already mandates that Medicaid offer the option of long-term healthcare services in the home or with the family of a person with disability. However, a study conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services found that only 12.5 percent of all Medicaid funds pay for home and community-based care, indicating a strong financial bias toward institutional care. To move the legislation forward, CHHSM’s advocacy partners in the disability community hope the 20th anniversary of the ADA will be honored with calls for Congress to move the Community Choice Act of 2009 forward in the legislative process.
For more information, visit www.GovTrack.us or www.opencongress.org and key in the legislation number or title. View a video of the 1990 ADA signing ceremony here.
William Johnson is CHHSM’s vice president for member relations.
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