AAPD - News

Olmstead and The National Governors Association
July 31, 2002

Since many of you have articulated some difficulty with your Governors re implementation of Olmstead, I wanted to share some excerpts from Governor Howard Dean's testimony before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, 6/20/02,
ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION.
He testified:

"Let me talk about the institutional bias in long term care....

"Nursing home care in an entitlement under the Medicaid Program while people who would prefer to be on the Home and Community Based Waiver program must wait, often for a long period of time, on waiting lists.

"This means that elderly and disabled Americans are entitled to receive the highest cost and least desirable service, yet they must wait in line for the cheaper and more desirable service. There is something very wrong with this picture.... When it comes to long term care, we put the most expensive and least desirable service first.

"This calls for a complete paradigm shift. We need to treat nursing homes and other institutional care as the last option, after all other options have been tried and failed.... Experience has shown that we can serve many more people with the same funding, and serve them in the setting they prefer, when we are able to keep them at home and avoid institutional costs.

"Perhaps more importantly, we can provide a higher quality of life by avoiding institutional services whenever possible. People who need long-term care want it to be provided at home. No one wants to spend their last days or even years surrounded by strangers, separated from their families and friends, enduring constant changes in staff and regular changes even of the people who are their nursing home room.

"Consumers are demanding more alternatives and rejecting institutional care. All we have to do is listen to them and follow their lead. If we do, we will have a better system of care and one, which provides for more people for the same dollars.

"Some people insist we will need more nursing homes. They are wrong baby boomers today are looking for alternatives for their parents.... We can't afford to protect the status quo. We need to listen to our people and act boldly to develop those services they want and which are more affordable."

WHAT ADVOCATES CAN DO:
1. Use this testimony in your state struggles to Free Our People.
2. Ask your Governor if s/he agrees with the NGA?
3. Demand your Governor implement Olmstead and give people a "Real Choice."
Don't Mourn, Organize
Steve Gold