Disabled Activists Protest Medicaid Cuts at White House

For Immediate Release Contact: Janine Bertram (503) 622-6387

September 19, 2011  Bruce Darling (585) 370-6690

Marsha Katz (406) 544-9504

MEDICAID DISABILITY ACTIVISTS AT WHITE HOUSE GATES

AS PRESIDENT PRESENTS DEBT PLAN

Washington, DC---As the President unveiled his debt plan this morning, hundreds of activists with disabilities stormed the White House to demand a voice in the structuring of Medicaid reform.  ADAPT, the national disability rights direct action group, is asking the administration to work with them to ensure that Medicaid dollars are invested in cost-saving community supports.

“The President says that he expects all Americans to share the burden of controlling the budget, but Medicaid recipients are already shouldering the burden for balancing budgets at the state level,” said Randy Alexander of Memphis ADAPT. “States have already made significant cuts to Medicaid. How many more people with disabilities and seniors must lose our basic freedoms and lives in order to have done our share?” 

Bruce Darling, an ADAPT organizer from Rochester, New York, pointed out that states have already reduced or eliminated vital home care services and forced seniors and people with disabilities into nursing facilities against their will. “People are already experiencing reduced or eliminated access to basic healthcare, including medications.  Jobs have already been eliminated for home care and direct care workers.”

ADAPT recognizes the need for new tax revenue and supports the President’s proposed so-called “millionaire’s tax.” Unlike Congressional Republicans who believe the burden of deficit reduction should only come from spending cuts to critical programs like Medicaid, the President has called for $1.5 trillion in new tax revenue.

ADAPT has reached out to the White House and Congress to offer proposals on how we can contain Medicaid spending that wouldn’t negatively impact on Medicaid beneficiaries.  The ADAPT Community has identified four principles for real Medicaid reform:

• Expand the use of community-based services

• Demedicalize services

• Expand consumer directed service options

• Reorganize Medicaid services to eliminate wasteful bureaucracy

“We are calling on the administration to work with us to promote the inclusion of these reforms,” said Cassie James Holdsworth of Philadelphia ADAPT.  “People have suffered enough in institutional settings.  We want the President to invest in consumer-directed community based services as part of his deficit plan.”

Details of ADAPT’s REAL Medicaid Reform proposals can be found on the ADAPT website at www.adapt.org.