Georgia's Olmstead Demands - Information Bulletin #294 (10/10)

On October 13, 2009, Georgia's ADAPT leadership met with Governor Sonny Purdue's top state officials.

Here are Georgia ADAPT's demands:

1. Appoint an Olmstead Czar who will be accountable for implementing a state program that effectively diverts people from nursing facilities and transitions people out of nursing facilities who want to live in the community.

2. Freeze Medicaid's institutional spending at the current level and rebalance the state's Medicaid spending so that the majority of Medicaid funds are spent on home and community based services. [In FY 2007, Georgia spent 76% of its Medicaid Aged/Disabled long term funds on nursing homes institutions and only 24% on community-based services. It has a long way to go to rebalance these expenditures.]

3. Modernize the Nurse Practice Act to allow trained attends to perform health maintenance activities.

4. Fund community-based organization to do "transition counseling" so they can identify individuals in nursing facilities who want to live in the community and actually assist seniors and people with disabilities in this process.

5. Adequately fund community-based services so all seniors and people with disabilities have the opportunity to live in the most integrated setting - their own homes and apartments.

6. Issue an Executive Order requiring Georgia's state agency to carry out their commitment to implement the Money Follows the Person Demonstration program and to remove the "cost share" from community care services.

7. Demonstrate national leadership by publicly urging the Governors in southern states to implement programs that give seniors and people with disabilities the opportunity to live in the most integrated setting as required by the Olmstead decision.

The October 13, 2009 meeting was the result of 400 national and Georgia ADAPT folks using civil disobedience, taking over the state capital, and refusing to leave until the Governor agreed to met to discuss Georgia's dismal Olmstead status.

Some thoughts for other states:

1. Do advocates in your state have a similar set of demands? Any other demands?

2. Are advocates meeting with the Governor's office to make sure s/he understands that the civil rights of seniors and people with disabilities cannot be ignored? If you've tried to meet with the Governor's office but have not had success, remind your Governor of what happened in Georgia!

Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

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To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com or call 215-627-7100. -- Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com