Block Grants and Medicaid Funding

Written by Kenny Maestas

MEDICAID MYTHS

• Myth: Seniors, PWD, pregnant women, and children forced on Medicaid waiting lists under expansion.
  • Truth: No waiting lists to enroll in Medicaid. States must enroll all eligible beneficiaries (i.e., children, seniors, PWD)
• Myth: Medicaid expansion led to longer waitlists for people requesting home and community-based services (HCBS)
  • Truth: Medicaid expansion has improved access to HCBS (9 of 11 states with no waiting lists are expansion states).
• Myth: Medicaid Expansion has been an economic drain.
  • Truth: PWD, caretakers, and home care workers have all benefited directly from Medicaid expansion. Colorado added many jobs, and Medicaid helps the economy, especially in rural areas.
• Myth: GOP Healthcare bill won’t harm seniors and PWD currently receiving HCBS.
  • Truth: Its per capita cap would make it hard for states to meet the need for HCBS, and cuts will increase yearly.
• Myth: States will be able to manage better Medicaid funds keeping coverage for current recipients.
  • Truth: States must cover nursing home care under Medicaid. So, cuts to Medicaid will be to PWD living in the community. HCBS waiting lists will grow. Some states might end programs.
• Myth: Medicaid expansion members are just lazy, able-bodied people.
  • Truth: There’s a minimal number of able-bodied adults not working, but they’re a distinct minority. Expansion members include many PWD, and others are low-wage workers whose employers do not provide insurance.
• Myth: Giving expansion higher match somehow hurts those on traditional Medicaid
  • Truth: The higher expansion gave states infrastructure to improve the program. People with disabilities, elders, and children benefited from these improvements. The match for traditional populations remained uncut.
• Myth: Medicaid patients cannot get doctors.
  • Truth: Federal statistics gathered over recent years show that the % of physicians accepting new Medicaid patients has remained around 70 percent. No support for the idea that the participation rate has declined under the ACA.

Continue reading “Block Grants and Medicaid Funding”

New Landscape Assessment Examines Community Organizing in Colorado

The Colorado Trust is pleased to share a landscape assessment of community organizing in Colorado. The assessment was conducted to better understand the priority issues of community organizing groups or organizations, their approaches to community organizing, and the unique challenges they face.

This report provides information on where organizing is taking place across the state, who is being organized and around what issues. Characteristics of groups and organizations engaged in community organizing are shared, as well as information on tactics and strategies used, and leadership and governance structures. It also highlights the perspectives and expressed needs of community organizers across Colorado, as well as their successes and challenges in doing this work.

The assessment was conducted by AMGB Consulting from September to November of 2019. Three hundred and thirty community organizing groups or organizations were identified, 181 completed a survey and 40 staff members or organizers participated in an interview or focus group. While the assessment was successful in identifying organizing efforts in urban and rural areas across Colorado, it should be noted that it does not include data from all community organizing groups that are active in the state.

Please contact Abby Bohannan or Mayra Gonzales of AMBG Consulting with any questions about the landscape assessment. For information on advocacy grantmaking at The Colorado Trust, including our new Building and Bridging Power strategy—which will support the work of organizing people and building policy infrastructure (letters of intent are being accepted through Feb. 7, 2020)—please contact Noelle Dorward, advocacy and policy partner at The Colorado Trust.

State Bill To Add RTD Board Members To Increase Oversight

DENVER (CBS4) – A transit system plagued with issues has caught the attention of state lawmakers. An ongoing driver shortage and hundreds of delayed and canceled routes within RTD prompted the introduction of a bill that would change how the agency operates.

Continue reading this article and watch the video at https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/01/29/rtd-board-members-disabilities/ By Karen Morfitt, January 29, 2020 at 10:00 pm

Amtrak Asks 2 People Who Use Wheelchairs To Pay $25,000 For A Ride

Accessible Travel Services

“Our goal is to provide safe, efficient and comfortable service to all of our passengers. We are pleased to provide additional services to passengers with disabilities, and we have worked to make our facilities more accessible to customers with disabilities.”

The above is a direct quote from the Amtrack website on the Accessible Travel Services page.

The following article is what that reality looked like for two passengers are reported on January 17, 2020, by Joseph Shapiro, Correspondent, NPR Investigations.

“It costs just $16 to buy a one-way ticket on the Amtrak train from Chicago to Bloomington, Ill., unless you’re the two people who use wheelchairs and tried to buy tickets recently. They were told their tickets will cost not $16 — but $25,000.” (Click to read the full NPR article.)

The Road to Work and Independence

By Michelle McHenry-Edrington, Non-Attorney Advocacy Coordinator

So you have a disability, and you want to remain or become as independent as you can. Maybe you want to go to school and get a job that turns into a career.

First of all, I can imagine that most people in your life have taken away or diminished your hopes and dreams regarding work and independence. Your dreams of living how you choose and being the best you can be are still yours to hope for and dream. Continue reading “The Road to Work and Independence”

Action Needed! SB 20-033: Allow Medicaid Buy-in Program After Age 65

SB 20-033: Allow Medicaid Buy-in Program After Age 65

By Julie Reiskin, Executive Director, CCDC

WILL ALLOW PEOPLE WITH SIGNIFICANT DISABILITIES WHO WORK USING THE MEDICAID BUY-IN TO CONTINUE WORKING AFTER AGE 65

Program: The Medicaid Buy-In for Working Adults with Disabilities (Buy-In) has been a path out of poverty for people with disabilities since 2014. By allowing people who have a disability and a job to buy into Medicaid and, if needed, long-term services and supports, individuals can earn up to 450% of the Federal Poverty Level while only counting 50% of their earned income. Best of all, there is no asset test. ALL OTHER paths into Medicaid carry a $2000 asset limit and strict earnings limits.  Continue reading “Action Needed! SB 20-033: Allow Medicaid Buy-in Program After Age 65”

Why CCDC Always Remains Working on Martin Luther King Day

Each year, the staff and many of our amazing volunteers at CCDC keep the office doors open and work on this very important holiday, a day dedicated to this true leader in the civil rights movement. Why? This movement has inspired and driven so much of what the disability rights community has done. The author of this blog has devoted a great amount of time studying Dr. King and the civil rights movement and the lawyers who were involved with that movement in order to build CCDC’s Civil Rights Legal Program. To pay tribute to Dr. King,  CCDC always works on Martin Luther King Day.  We believe the best way to honor this great civil rights hero is to continue championing the causes of people with disabilities by working on this day. Continue reading “Why CCDC Always Remains Working on Martin Luther King Day”

Changes coming to two of the Single Entry Point Agencies (SEP)

CCDC is pleased to announce that in July 2020, there will be changes to two of the Single Entry Point Agencies (SEP). The Single Entry Point System is a collection of more than 20 state-wide SEPs that provide eligibility determinations and case management for particular Home and Community Based Services Waiver programs.  Continue reading “Changes coming to two of the Single Entry Point Agencies (SEP)”

Healthcare and Prosperity in America

By Timothy Postlewaite

Healthcare is crucial to prosperity in America, as it assists in the facilitation, participation, and productivity in a multitude of aspects from the standpoint of those whom the rest of society would categorize as “underdogs,” individuals who require more assistance to find their version of “normalcy.”  Medicaid is a prime example of a program that attempts to assist with this, as it assists the impoverished and the disabled by allowing them to have the opportunity to live a healthy and productive life. From an early age, I have experienced the pros and cons of Medicaid. The program allocated funds toward my first electric wheelchair, which allowed me to enter Kindergarten with the ability to participate with a diverse group of kids.  Moreover, not only did this experience begin the process of acclimating me to social expectations, but it also assisted me in terms of forming my identity, providing me with a steadfast foundation of freedom and independence, two characteristics that have remained with me to this day. Continue reading “Healthcare and Prosperity in America”

Tennessee Set to Become the First State to Adopt Block Grants (TennCare Waiver Amendment 42)

Overview

Tennessee has submitted an application to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) asking to convert the bulk of funding for its TennCare Medicaid program to a modified block grant, along with numerous other changes that threaten both TennCare and the Medicaid program nationally. Continue reading “Tennessee Set to Become the First State to Adopt Block Grants (TennCare Waiver Amendment 42)”