1)
We urge you to support Senator Harkin's amendment #991, the Money
Follows the Person
Amendment, to S.1, the Medicare Prescription Drugs Bill.
2)
This amendment would enact President Bush's proposal for a Money
Follows the Person
Program, which was included in the President 2004 budget
request as a major
component of the President's New Freedom Initiative to
integrate people with
disabilities into the community.
3)
This amendment is strongly supported by people with disabilities
because it would give
us the freedom to choose where we want to live. It
would allow us to
take advantage of opportunities that other Americans take
for granted - to take
a walk when we want to, to choose what we want to eat,
when we want to go
to bed, to have a job, visit family and friends and be
part of our communities.
4)
This amendment is a win-win. People with disabilities get the choice
to live in the community
and states get the needed resources to rebalance
their long term service
systems to increase the availability of community
based services.
5)
This amendment provides 350 million dollars to states per year for
five years for a total
of 1.75 billion dollars. It provides 100% of the
cost for the first
year that a person moves from an institutional settting
into the community.
After that, the federal government pays its regular
rate.
6)
The thirteenth anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act is
approaching on July
26th. This amendment will help states comply with the
ADA and the Olmstead
decision. The Supreme Court said in Olmstead that
needless institutionalization
was discrimination under the Americans With
Disabilities Act.
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