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"Not Moving Quickly" to provide Home Care for the Disabled
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Massachusetts "Not Moving Quickly"
to provide Home Care for the Disabled
Elderly Rights Group says Court Ruling is Largely Ignored
STATEWIDE—A new national survey says that Massachusetts is only "in the early stages" of responding to US Supreme Court ruling nearly two years old that opens the door for more home care services for certain disabled people, and "has not generated much information" on the state’s efforts to provide more community care.
In the June, 1999 Olmstead decision, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of two retarded womenfrom Georgia that it is a violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act for states to discriminate against the disabled by providing services in institutions when the individual could be served more appropriately in a community-based setting.
"It appears that the state is not moving quickly," the National Conference of State Legislatures said. The state by state comparison says that "neither the Legislature nor the governor has acted specifically in response to Olmstead."
Mass Home Care, an elderly rights group, charges that other states have mounted major
planning efforts in response to the court ruling, but that the Baystate has done little to advance the cause of community care for the disabled in the intervening two years. This lack of state response, says Mass Home Care, has meant a continuing "institutional bias" that unjustifiably cuts people off from their communities. Elder Services of Berkshire County is the local Mass Home Care member agency.
As examples of more aggressive state action, Mass Home Care cites the following:
California created a Long Term Care Council in 1999 to develop a long term care policy for the state.
Illinois passed a legislative resolution in 2000 convening a broad-based group to develop an Olmstead plan, which was filed with the legislature in January of 2001.
Missouri’s governor created the Home and Community Based Services and Consumer Directed Care Commission in April of 2000, which issued a report in December, 2000, including recommendations from consumers.
North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services developed an Olmstead plan, which is now under public review.
New Jersey created an interdepartmental task force to meet with a New Jersey Americans with Disabilities Act Coalition to develop an Olmstead plan in 2001.
Ohio’s Governor created a task force in June of 2000 called Ohio ACCESS, which issued an Olmstead report in February of 2001.
Oregon has developed a six year plan for long term care, and now spends more of its money on home care than on nursing homes.
Pennsylvania’s Governor directed the Dept of Public Welfare to draft an Olmstead plan, including an "external stakeholder" planning team.
Texas’ Governor in September of 1999 ordered a review of all services available to the disabled in Texas. A "Promoting Independence" plan was issued in January of 2001.
According to Mass Home Care, former Governor Cellucci issued Executive Order 421 in May, 2000 to develop a 5 year plan for long term care, but that study has not been released almost a year later, and no stakeholders or consumers were involved in the preparation of the plan.
There are currently more than 4,500 elders who are nursing home eligible being kept at home by Mass Home Care agencies, but the group says the state only provides $7.38 a day vs. $130 a day for nursing home care. "The whole system is designed around institutional care," explained Catherine R. May, Executive Director of Elder Services of Berkshire County. "We invest most of our tax dollars in a form of care that seniors want the least."
Mass Home Care has filed "equal choice" legislation that would give seniors the choice of care settings, with money following the elder’s needs, rather than the opposite. The equal choice bill (S. 676./H.1589) would require the state to spend no less than 50% of the cost of nursing home care on community care for elders who make the choice to remain at home.
"Our state’s response to the Olmstead ruling has been pathetic," says Al Norman of Mass Home Care. "Several lawsuits have been filed against Massachusetts officials, and only in settlements are the disabled and the retarded able to get the care they really deserve. We don’t think disabled people should have to go to court to be able to stay at home. To us, this is a major civil rights issue."