Free Our Mothers, Free Our Fathers Free Our People Now

Aug. 12, 2003 -- The Money Follows the Person Act introduced in Congress last month by Sens. Tom Harkin (D.-IA) and Gordon Smith (R. - OR) is an effort to put into bill form the President's 2004 Budget proposal to encourage states to allow the money to follow the person, so people who are living in nursing homes or other institutions could have the money "follow them" as they move out into the community onto community based services. The bill is S. 1394.

"This bill does not replace MiCASSA," says disability rights organizer Stephanie Thomas. MiCASSA (S 971 and HR 2032), calls for Medicaid funding to be used for personal assistance services and supports for people of all ages in their homes and communities, rather than only in an institution -- paying for asssistance with bathing, dressing, meal preparation, money management and certain health-related tasks.

MiCASSA redirects the focus of the Medicaid long-term services program from institutions to home and community services and supports. It enables people to make real choices.

"Most Americans who need long term services and supports would prefer to receive them in home and community settings rather than in institutions," said Sens. Harkin and Specter in a letter to Senate colleagues when an earlier version of MiCassa was in Congress. "And yet, too often, decisions relating to the provision of long term services and supports are dictated by what is reimbursable under Federal and state Medicaid policy rather than by what individuals need. Right now, the Medicaid program includes a significant bias toward reimbursing services provided in institutions over services provided in home and community settings (research reveals seventy-five percent of Medicaid funds pay for services provided in institutions).

"We believe that no individual should be forced into an institution to receive reimbursement for services that can be effectively and efficiently delivered in the home or community,"