Press Releases
June 6, 2007
A Celebration for CHOICE on its Twentieth Anniversary Click HERE for Photo Gallery
January 17, 2007
Senior and Disability Home Health Gets a Major Boost
February 8, 2005
The Implementation of SEA 493 is a Key to Resolving Indiana’s
Medicaid Funding and Service Delivery Crisis According to a New Study
from The Generations Project
February 8, 2005
Statement by John Cardwell, Director, The Generations Project,
Regarding the Implications of the Project’s Moving Forward Report for
Indiana’s Medicaid Funding and Long Term Care Services Crisis
November 15, 2004
The Generations Project Receives $90,000 Grant from Nina Mason
Pulliam Charitable Trust
November 12, 2004
Monday Summit to Address Indiana’s
Long Term Care & Fiscal Crisis
November 8, 2004
Summit to focus on moving forward with reforming long term care
system in Indiana
May 10, 2004
Indiana Minority Health Coalition
Joins The Generations Project -- “Business as usual isn’t working for
persons in need of home health care in Indiana.”
March 8, 2004
Home Health Care Reforms to Receive Legislative Scrutiny -- New law
will require state agency to report what it is doing to implement 2003’s
SEA 493
December 3, 2003
Advocates and Experts Will Discuss Issues Associated with SEA 493 and
the Re-Balancing of Indiana’s Long Term Health Care System
August 13, 2003
Joint statement from the Indiana Home Care Task Force
August 11, 2003
Tools available, action lacking for those waiting on home and
community based long term health care.
(Released
in Evansville, Fort
Wayne, Lafayette and Terre Haute)
January 7, 2003
UAW retirees to focus on addressing Indiana's long term care crisis
November 14, 2002
Legislators, policy experts, advocates to discuss solutions to Indiana's
long term care and funding crisis at November 18th Summit
For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Will Phillips, Assistant Director, 317-423-7108
February 8, 2005
View as PDF
The Implementation of SEA 493 is a Key to Resolving Indiana’s
Medicaid Funding and Service Delivery Crisis According to a New Study
from The Generations Project
(Indianapolis)
Today, The Generations Project, a non-profit policy education
organization based in Indianapolis,
released a major study of Indiana’s
publicly funded system of home and community based long term care for
senior citizens and persons with disabilities. The study, completed with
funding from The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, concludes that
implementing a sweeping reform law passed by the General Assembly in 2003
is a key to resolving the state’s Medicaid funding and service delivery
crisis.
John
Cardwell, Director of The Generations Project, stated: “Indiana has had an imbalanced long
term care system dating back to the 1970s. Over time that imbalance has
shifted a greater and greater volume of dollars and human resources into
nursing homes and has inappropriately forced countless thousands into
nursing homes at an enormous human and financial cost to our state. In
2003, the state legislature sought to address this crisis but the state
administration at that time chose not to implement the major features of
the new law at that time. Today, the Moving Forward study proves that to
solve the fiscal and service delivery crisis that is gripping Medicaid
the state must implement the positive reforms in SEA 493.”
Elmer
Blankenship, President of the project’s governing board and state
president of the Indiana Alliance for Retired Americans, added: “Tens of
thousands of Hoosiers of all ages are on waiting lists for publicly
funded home and community based care. The failure to provide services to
these people who need help in order to afford proper home care services
is a great burden on everyone in our state. But this burden can be lifted
if SEA 493 is implemented. The Moving Forward study shows SEA 493 can “eliminate
any remaining program and services gaps that impede the further
development of community-based programs in Indiana.” The study also concludes
that re-balancing our long term care system “is a very reachable goal
that has already been achieved in several states across the nation.”
Cliff Willis,
also a member of the project’s governing board and Associate State
Director for Communications for AARP Indiana, added: “The Moving Forward
study makes it very clear that by taking full advantage of Medicaid waivers
and the CHOICE program to keep people out and to move people out of
Medicaid funded nursing home care into publicly funded home and community
based care more people can get the services they need. Fully implementing
SEA 493 also means unwanted nursing home utilization can be dramatically
reduced, and the public savings generated by doing these things will
provide the funds to get people off of the waiting lists for home care
services. This is clearly a win-win situation for long term care
consumers, their families, taxpayers, and the state of Indiana.”
Will Phillips
concluded: “The Moving Forward study shows us the state’s Medicaid
funding crisis can be resolved through positive measures. In 2003, the
mobilization of an educated public substantially contributed to the
unanimous passage of SEA 493 through the General Assembly. Now, through
this report and other efforts, we believe that a high level of public
awareness will again yield favorable results for Hoosiers through the
creation of a balanced and responsive system of long term care. The
financial support of The Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis and
The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust has in large part made this
effort possible.”
February 8, 2005
View as PDF
Statement by John Cardwell, Director, The Generations Project,
Regarding the Implications of the Project’s Moving Forward Report for
Indiana’s Medicaid Funding and Long Term Care Services Crisis
The
Generations Project was founded over three years ago to address the
critical imbalances in Indiana’s
system of long term care for the elderly and persons with physical
disabilities.
These
imbalances mean 84 percent of our public Medicaid dollars are spent on
nursing home care and only 16 percent of our public Medicaid and CHOICE
program dollars are spent on home and community based care.
These
imbalances in Indiana’s
long term care system continue to result in needless and unacceptable
outcomes for Hoosiers. 1) Taxpayers are paying more and getting less care
than they should be through Indiana’s
Medicaid program. 2) Tens of thousands of people languish on waiting
lists for home and community based care. 3) Family members are stretched
to their financial, professional, and personal breaking points to provide
home care. 4) Death and nursing home placement remain the leading means
for leaving the waiting lists for home and community based care.
In 2002 and
2003, The Generations Project published in its booklets Home Care for
Hoosiers data that clearly demonstrated Indiana is using its Medicaid dollars
disproportionately and inappropriately for nursing home care. In 2003 the
project also published A Business Issue: Caregiving
& Long Term Care that clearly demonstrated a direct link between a
loss of productivity in the business sector with a lack of available home
and community based care. In short, every time a Hoosier misses work,
quits a job, or gets sick trying to work and maintain home care for a
loved one there is an economic consequence for everyone in lost
productivity, lost tax revenues, and lower overall economic vitality in
our state.
Now, after a
year’s investment in time and expert analyses the project’s comprehensive
Moving Forward report on the implementation of Senate Enrolled Act 493
and the state’s long term care system demonstrates without a doubt the
following:
a. The failure to implement 2003's SEA 493 is resulting in the wasteful
expenditure of hundreds of millions of Medicaid dollars.
b. Death and nursing home placement will continue to be the primary and
unconscionable means for getting people off waiting lists for home and
community based care as long as SEA 493 is not implemented.
c. SEA 493 can still be fully implemented and if that happens Indiana’s
can move to the forefront of states that: 1) provide high quality home
and community based services, 2) expand home and community based services
while holding the line on, and even reducing, Medicaid costs, and 3) that
improve the overall quality of life.
Simply
consider the cost of Medicaid funded nursing home care in Indiana.
Currently, the state is spending nearly $900 million in state and federal
funds on nursing homes. The Generations Project maintains that Indiana, through
the full and aggressive implementation of SEA 493, can reduce its nursing
residential census by fifty percent in as little as five years. With this
action, hundreds of millions of dollars can become available for home
care community based care under the provisions of the 2003 act. That
represents a huge opportunity for state budget managers, state policy
makers, business and industry, and most importantly individuals and their
families throughout Indiana
that need care. The implications for the current public debate on how to
resolve Indiana’s
Medicaid spending and services crisis are enormous.
With the publication of the Moving Forward study, the evidence of
its viability and the knowledge for implementing SEA 493 are now at hand. With this study the concerned public,
private sector leaders, and state officials now have available the
knowledge base they need to move forward with the re-balancing of
Indiana’s long term care system.
The Moving Forward study was underwritten by a grant from the Nina
Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. The publication of the report was jointly
underwritten by the CICOA Foundation and AARP Indiana. The primary author of the
report was Judith E. Becherer, an independent
contractor to The Generations Project, who worked with assistance from
colleagues and other experts in the field of long term care. Ms. Becherer formerly served as the director of long term
care for the state of Indiana.
The report’s chief editor was John Cardwell, director of the project and
chair of the Indiana Home Care Task Force. The report’s design and
production editor was William L. Phillips, assistant director of The
Generations Project.
The organizations that are members of the project are: AARP
Indiana, CICOA Aging and In-Home Services, Citizens Action Coalition
Education Fund, Alzheimer’s Association, Indiana Association of Area
Agencies on Aging, Indiana Alliance for Retired Americans, Indiana
Minority Health Coalition, Mental Health Association in Indiana, Council
of Volunteer Organizations for Hoosiers with Disabilities, The ARC of
Indiana, and United Senior Action of Indiana.
The Generations Project is underwritten as a whole by The Health
Foundation of Greater Indianapolis
and the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Will Phillips, Assistant Director, 317-423-7108
November 15, 2004
View as PDF
The Generations Project Receives $90,000 Grant from Nina Mason
Pulliam Charitable Trust
Indianapolis – The Generations Project received a
grant of $90,000 from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. The Funds
will be used to support the second year of a collaborative effort
designed to improve Indiana’s system of
long term care services for elderly and disabled citizens in Indiana.
“Assistance
from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust has and continues to support
a critical effort to rebalance Indiana’s
system of long term health care,” stated Duane Etienne, President of The
Generations Project’s Advisory Board. “The fruits of this support will be
fully realized when those in need of home and community based long term
care no longer have to wait for those services,” Etienne concluded.
The
Generations Project was among 21 Indiana
nonprofit organizations receiving grant checks and commitments totaling
$1,606,000 from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust at the Trust’s
check presentation event held on November 15, 2004, at Second Helpings,
Inc. This is the third of three funding rounds for the Trust in 2004.
“Our funding
helps people in need, protects animals and nature, and enriches community
life in Indiana and Arizona, the states Mrs. Pulliam
called home,” explained Harriet Ivey, president and CEO of the Nina Mason
Pulliam Charitable Trust. “Five grantees are first-time recipients of the
Trust’s giving. Grants range from $15,000 to $200,000,”
Ivey added.
“As the trust
completes its seventh year of funding, we are most pleased with the
long-term impact of our grant dollars and the relationships and programs
established with our family of grantees,” said Trustee Carol Peden Schatt. “Nina would
have been so proud of the work her dollars are supporting today.”
“The Trust
will be a part of this community for many years to come – during the next
43 years of the Trust’s 50-year life and, more importantly, through the
legacy of your work,” Trustee Chairman Frank E. Russell stated.
Trustee Nancy
Russell updated the audience about the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars
program, which opens doors of higher education for men and women who are
often overlooked for traditional college scholarships.
“We are very
pleased that many of our Nina Scholars are being referred from nonprofit
organizations the Trust supports,” Russell said. Beginning in 2001, each
year the Trust has sponsored five new students at Indiana University
Purdue University Indianapolis and 12 new students at Ivy Tech State
College – Central Indiana.
Since the
Trust began making grants in 1989, it has committed $47,532,985 to 296
nonprofit organizations in Indiana.
For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Will Phillips, 317-423-7108
Cliff Willis, AARP, 317-423-7105
November 12, 2004
View
as PDF
Monday Summit to
Address Indiana’s Long Term Care & Fiscal Crisis
INDIANAPOLIS - The Moving Forward Summit on Long
Term Care Reform will take place Monday, November 15,
at 10:00 a.m. The event will be held downtown Indianapolis, 31 West Ohio Street, at the
Radisson City Centre.
The Summit
is being sponsored by The Generations Project, a collaborative of eleven
leading civic organizations, to address the growing human and fiscal
crisis resulting from Indiana’s
system of long term care. Advocates and health care administrators from Indiana and other states will be on hand Monday to
make the case that in order to stem this crisis,
Indiana
must rebalance its spending on publicly funded long term health care.
By 2025, Indiana’s 65 and older population is
expected to increase to over 1.2 million, making it the second largest
age category in the state. Within this population, it is estimated that
at least 60% of people 75 and older will require some form of long term
care during the remainder of their life.
“With a $1.6 billion dollar budget for
long term care in 2004, Indiana
cannot afford to wait to transition its system of long term care,” said
John Cardwell, Director of The Generations Project. “A system of care
that utilizes more home and community based care options will save the
State money and provide appropriate care for Indiana’s senior citizens
and persons with disabilities,” Cardwell concluded.
Monday’s Summit
will focus on how Indiana
can and must reform its system. The day’s events will include panel
discussions covering how long term care issues impact Indiana
business and overall quality of life; how other states have achieved long
term care rebalancing; and what Indiana
must do to implement Senate Enrolled Act 493 – the law passed unanimously
by the 2003 Indiana General Assembly.
An estimated 200 individuals –
including citizens, public officials, legislators, advocates, and health
care professionals are expected at The Moving Forward Summit to address
this critical issue. Among many other things, The Generations Project
will illustrate that - for the people and the economic well-being of Indiana - now is
the time to move forward with long term care reform.
For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Will Phillips, 317-423-7108
Cliff Willis, AARP, 317-423-7105
November 8, 2004
View as PDF
Summit to focus on
moving forward with reforming long term care system in Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS – Advocates, legislators and citizens
will gather here, Nov. 15, for The Moving Forward Summit on Long Term Care
Reform. The summit is sponsored by The Generations
Project.
The 10 a.m.
event will be held at the Radisson City Centre, 31 West Ohio Street, in downtown Indianapolis.
According to
the 2004 Chart Book released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS), Indiana
ranks 47th in spending on home and community based care as a percentage
of its total long term care budget. Indiana has long stagnated near the
bottom of lists ranking state expenditures on home and community based
care in spite of an overwhelming public demand for such services and the
significant cost savings that could be achieved by satisfying that public
demand.
Current and
former long term care administrators from states that have balanced their
long term care systems will be on hand to articulate how Indiana can and
must move forward. The implementation of Senate Enrolled Act 493, passed
by the 2003 Indiana General Assembly, will be a significant topic of
conversation as the vehicle for making these changes.
In addition,
health care professionals and state administrators will be in attendance
to discuss this critically important issue.
An estimated
200 individuals – including citizens, public officials, legislators,
advocates, and health care professionals are expected at The Moving
Forward Summit to address this critical issue. Among many other things,
The Generations Project will illustrate that - for the people and the
economic well-being of Indiana
- now is the time to move forward with long term care reform.
For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Will Phillips, 317-423-7108
Stephanie DeKemper, IMHC, 317-926-3287
May 10, 2004
View as PDF
Indiana Minority Health
Coalition Joins The Generations Project
“Business as usual isn’t working for persons in need of home health care
in Indiana.”
Indianapolis – The Indiana Minority Health Coalition (IMHC) has recently
partnered with The Generations Project in an effort to raise public
awareness about the need to rebalance Indiana’s publicly funded system of
long term health care. IMHC is a non-profit organization organized
exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes with a
primary focus of improving the health of Indiana’s ethnic/racial minority
population.
“Access to
health care services remains a significant problem for minorities in
Indiana,“ said Stephanie DeKemper,
CEO and President of IMHC. “Those in need of long term care in this state
are all too often ushered into nursing homes when more appropriate and
more cost effective home and community based options could be utilized.
We know that racial and ethnic minorities experience excess mortality,
morbidity, and disability from preventable conditions; and for those
individuals in need of home and community based care in Indiana, business as usual simply
isn’t working,” DeKemper concluded.
With an
estimated 35,000 individuals on official waiting lists for publicly
funded home and community based care through Indiana’s CHOICE program and
Medicaid Waivers, accessing appropriate long term care options remains a
significant obstacle for all Hoosiers.
“The
Generations Project exists to bring Hoosiers together to address the
imbalance in Indiana’s
long term care system,” said John Cardwell, Director of The Generations
Project. “The addition of the Indiana Minority Health Coalition to the
many organizations calling for fundamental change in the way Indiana administers long term health care is
reflective of the growing need for long term care services by an aging
and diverse population in Indiana.
We are thrilled to have them on board,” concluded Cardwell.
In the spring
of 2003, Governor Frank O’Bannon signed Senate Enrolled Act 493 into law
as a way to re-balance Indiana’s
long term care system. To date, Indiana’s
Family and Social Services Administration has made little progress in
implementing the sweeping provisions of SEA 493. Through statewide
outreach and public education, The Generations Project is working to call
attention to the significant crisis we face in long term care and the
extensive tools we have available through SEA 493 to solve this crisis.
For Immediate Release
CONTACT: John Cardwell, 317-423-7102
Will Phillips, 317-423-7108
The Generations Project
March 8, 2004
View as PDF
Home Health Care Reforms to Receive Legislative Scrutiny
New law will require state agency to report what it is doing to implement
2003’s SEA 493
Indianapolis - Today, Indiana’s
leading advocates for long-term care reform praised legislation passed by
the 2004 General Assembly to increase its scrutiny of the home health
care reforms that were made state law one year ago. Senate Enrolled Act
449, authored by State Senator Greg Server (R-Evansville) and sponsored
in the House by State Representative Charlie Brown (D-Gary), empowers the
Health Finance Committee to review and monitor the implementation of the
Home Health and Long Term Care Services Reform Act of 2003. The new law,
passed unanimously by the General Assembly, requires the Indiana Family
and Social Services Administration to be prepared to report on
implementation activities to the commission by May 1, 2004.
Last year’s
reform act -- also known as Senate Enrolled Act 493 -- was designed to
make home health, assisted living, adult foster care, personal care
services, and adult day care readily available to qualified persons
through Indiana’s
Medicaid program. These alternatives will allow them to leave nursing
homes and/or avoid going into them in the first place. The law also
raised the income eligibility of persons who qualify for home and
community based care through Medicaid to match the income eligibility for
nursing home care. Such laws in other states have significantly reduced
public spending on Medicaid by reducing the use of more expensive nursing
home care.
The 2003
General Assembly designed SEA 493 to be self-funding by using the tax
dollars that would otherwise pay for nursing homes to purchase home and
community based alternatives. Under SEA 493, a person eligible for
Medicaid-funded nursing home services can choose to use a portion of
those funds to purchase less expensive home care, assisted living or
other community based services.
States like
Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, Vermont, Colorado, Utah, Kansas and others
all save money by investing in less expensive, more preferred home and
community based services according to John Cardwell, Director of The
Generations Project. Cardwell drafted the language of SEA 493 for The
Generations Project and the Indiana Home Care Task Force, two consumer
education and advocacy networks that support long-term care reform.*
Cardwell
stated: “SEA 493 represents an enormous opportunity that FSSA has failed
to take advantage of. So far that agency has made only token efforts to
implement the 2003 reforms. In fact, they have missed most of the legal
deadlines established by the act and are in de facto violation of state
law. With the passage of SEA 449, we hope the General Assembly now has
the leverage needed to finally spur FSSA into a full and proper
implementation of the 2003 statute.”
Editors and News Directors
CONTACT: William Phillips
The Generations Project
December 3, 2003
wphillips@generationsproject.org
Phone 317-423-7108
View as PDF
Advocates and Experts Will Discuss Issues Associated with SEA 493
and the Re-Balancing of Indiana’s Long Term Health Care System
Education Seminar for Editors, News Directors, and Reporters set
for December 17th
When Senate
Enrolled Act 493 was signed into law on May 8, 2003 by the late Governor
Frank O’Bannon, advocates and Hoosiers in need of expanded home and
community based services understood that although a solid foundation had
been laid to build a balanced long term health care system for Indiana,
much work would need to be done to realize the sweeping provisions
contained within this new law.
Seven months
have passed since SEA 493 was enacted. Advocates and leading experts in the
field of long term health care will convene Wednesday, December 17th,
2003 from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. at The Generations Project office (One North Capitol Avenue, Suite 1275,
Indianapolis). The session
has been planned to brief members of the print and electronic media about
topics relative to long term health care in Indiana.
There is no
charge for this event. Breakfast will be made available to those in
attendance beginning at 7:30 a.m. Topics to be covered include:
What is SEA 493 and how do provisions contained within this landmark
legislation work to re-balance Indiana’s
system of long term health care?
Seven months after the signing of SEA 493 into state law, what
progress has been made in implementing the mandates of this new law?
What are the consequences to those in need of care, caregivers,
business, and the Indiana
state budget of maintaining the status quo relative to long term health
care given an aging population and expanding Medicaid budget?
How do advocates address the relative inaction of the state
administration relative to the implementation of SEA 493 and arguments by
the state that a full and timely implementation is fiscally unrealistic?
What steps will advocacy organizations take in the future to
ensure a full and timely implementation of SEA 493?
In
answering the above questions, presenters will discuss with members of
the media administrative and fiscal issues, communications strategies,
long term care as a political issue, avenues of legal recourse, and new
legislation for the 2004 Indiana General Assembly.
Joint Statement of the Indiana Home
Care Task Force to Governor Frank O'Bannon on the Implementation of SEA
493 and Funding for the CHOICE Program
Delivered on August 13, 2003 to the Office of the Governor
View as PDF
Governor,
hope is essential to human existence, or as the Rev. Jesse Jackson has so
forcefully said, "we must keep hope alive." With hope, people
are willing to endure all matter of want and need. Hope is the reason
tens of thousands of Hoosiers have struggled for years in pain and
poverty, at risk of institutionalization and death, awaiting the chance
to get home and community based services through the CHOICE program or
through a Medicaid waiver.
Yes, the
hope of home care has kept these people alive but it is also a fragile
thread that can too easily be broken. You have long recognized that fact.
In 1987, your leadership was essential in the passage of the now
nationally heralded CHOICE program. In the years that followed you
stepped forward time after time to defend, advocate and advance the cause
of long term care options for Hoosiers and on May 8th you signed SEA 493
into law.
Time and
time again you have stepped forward to keep the thread of hope for home
care unbroken. The people of Indiana
need you to step forward once again.
Governor,
the passage of Senate Enrolled Act 493 led us to believe the hope of good
citizens was about to be rewarded. But for their hope to grow from a
thread to a life saving rope, you must act decisively and quickly to fully
implement 493, to restore full CHOICE funding, and to fully utilize
Medicaid waivers.
Regarding
SEA 493, the new law establishes the mechanisms for the delivery of long
term care services to persons and families of limited means who are
proven to be in need of that care. The law requires the establishment of
a comprehensive array of necessary services that can enable each
individual in service to get the care that is appropriate and cost
effective for that person. 493 also creates the
means for funding the expansion of home and community based services. All
these things and more are done by the new law within the parameters of
existing appropriations.
For
persons with disabilities, the at-risk elderly, and stressed family care
givers, 493 can truly be a life saving rope. For taxpayers frustrated
with the growing cost of public services, for employers and workers
seeking relief from the draining burden of long term care, and for
lawmakers seeking a solution to the human misery and financial burden associated
with doing business as usual, SEA 493 represents a real and positive
solution if fully implemented. For people of all walks of life 493 is the
codification of hope, fair play, good economics, and Hoosier common
sense.
SEA 493
has been designed to transform Indiana's
system of long term care in a comprehensive and integrated manner.
Consequently, the new law cannot fulfill the hopes of Hoosiers if it is
implemented in bits and pieces or if existing programs, such as CHOICE
and the Medicaid aged and disabled waiver, are not properly funded and
administered.
Unfortunately,
the latter is happening at the present time. Well intended but incorrect
actions to address Indiana's
budget crisis are dismantling critical components of our long term care
system. On July 1, 2003 the state reverted a reported four million
dollars intended for CHOICE at a time when a record 13,000 Hoosiers are
on waiting lists for services funded through that program. At the same
time the state has "frozen" the availability of existing
Medicaid waiver slots that came open during state fiscal year 2003 even
though there are people on waiting lists for Medicaid waiver services.
These two actions will drive already impoverished people into nursing
homes and increase our Medicaid budget. Regarding 493, state
administrators are arbitrarily deciding what parts of the law they will
and will not implement. Such actions invite the strong possibility of a
negative backlash from the public, the legislature, and the courts.
As you are
aware, leaders of the organizations that compose the Indiana Home Care
Task Force have been meeting with officials from your office, the State
Budget Agency, and the Family and Social Services Administration. Those
discussions have been cordial, relevant to the issues at hand, and they
need to continue. However, those discussions have also been inconclusive
and the July 1st enactment date for 493 has long since past.
Disturbingly, during these discussions state officials conceded the
reversion of CHOICE dollars and the freezing of Medicaid slots only after
being pressed to do so.
Governor
O'Bannon, the Indiana Home Care Task Force, on behalf of its member
organizations across the state and the millions of Hoosiers we represent,
urge you to act now to fully implement Senate Enrolled Act 493, to fully
restore CHOICE funding, and to lift the freeze on Medicaid waiver slots.
We are willing to meet with you at your convenience, and we are willing
to continue to work with your executive staff and FSSA administrators.
But as the days rapidly pass since the July 1, 2003 enactment date of SEA
493 more legal deadlines will be missed by your administration and even
more Hoosiers put at risk of needless institutional placement and death.
Governor,
with the passage of SEA 493 the General Assembly recreated the magical
moment of 1987 when CHOICE was enacted into law. For years the CHOICE
program fulfilled the hope and the promise of the original law, however,
the benefits of that program have only been available to those lucky few
who have not been endlessly held on waiting lists. With the passage of
493 we can bring the miracle of CHOICE to all Hoosiers needing and using
publicly funded home and community based services. Through 493 the hope
and thread of home care can truly grow into a life saving rope for all
Hoosiers who need that care. Please act to give this hope the life your
fellow Hoosiers deserve.
###
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: William Phillips
The Generations Project
August 11, 2003
wphillips@generationsproject.org
Phone 317-423-7108
View as PDF
Tools available, action lacking for those
waiting on home and community based long term health care.
Leaders of
organizations representing consumers, senior citizens, and people with
disabilities will be in Fort Wayne,
Wednesday, August 13th, for a 1:30 p.m. news conference to draw attention
to the enormous potential for improvement in Indiana's long term health care
system. Cliff Willis, communications director for AARP Indiana and Paul
Severance, executive director of United Senior Action of Indiana will focus on the need for Indiana to move
quickly to re-balance its system of long term health care. Wednesday's
news conference will be held at the offices of Aging and In-Home Services
of Northeast Indiana, Inc., 2927 Lake Avenue, Fort Wayne.
Over
27,000 Hoosiers are currently on official waiting lists for home and
community based services. An estimated 13,000 of those are waiting for
services under the Indiana
CHOICE program. Advocates stress that with the passage of Senate Enrolled
Act 493, it is now time for the state to implement the new law and fully
utilize its existing CHOICE and Medicaid waiver program.
SEA 493
was passed unanimously by the 2003 Indiana
General Assembly and mandates the state to begin re-balancing its long
term care system. Indiana's CHOICE program, which provides home and
community based care to Hoosiers, has served citizens since 1987. Mr.
Willis and Mr. Severance will discuss the options now available to Hoosiers
in need of long term care and the actions that Indiana must take to provide that
care.
-30-
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: William Phillips
The Generations Project
January 7, 2003
wphillips@generationsproject.org
Phone 317-423-7108
View as PDF
UAW retirees to focus on addressing Indiana's long
term care crisis
Kokomo -
Retired UAW members will gather at 6:00 p.m., Jan. 8 at UAW Local 685 to
conduct chapter business and learn about what can be done to address Indiana's growing
long-term health care crisis.
"Young
or old, anybody could be put in a position where they require long term
health care," said Larry Scott, Local 685 retiree chairman. "Indiana has
thousands of people on waiting lists to receive that care in their homes
and in their community. Why can't these people get the care that they
need? What can be done to change this? We'll have Will Phillips from The
Generations Project here on Thursday to talk about the things that Indiana can be
doing to solve its long term care crisis," Scott added.
Something
must be done, according to Will Phillips, Program Associate for The
Generations Project, Indianapolis.
"An outdated formula for providing long term care to Hoosiers,
coupled with an aging population, has left Indiana facing serious problems in
caring for its citizens," Phillips said. Indiana's approach--a
business as usual approach to long term care--will only continue to
provide the usual results for consumers and taxpayers; a system of care
that is the most expensive and the least desirable."
Phillips'
visit will be the first of many visits to communities across the state on
behalf of The Generations Project, an Indianapolis based coalition of
advocacy groups. "Made up of organizations including AARP, the
Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, and the Indiana State Council of
Senior Citizens, The Generation Project hopes to alert Hoosiers to the
fact that home and community-based care is not just the preferred
care-but also the cheapest care for taxpayers. Most importantly, we hope
that folks around the state will demand change," said Phillips.
For more
information regarding The Generations Project and long-term care issues,
contact Will Phillips by email at wphillips@generationsproject.org or by
phone at 317-423-7108. Kokomo residents
can also contact the UAW retirees at 765-459-3133 or Elmer Blankenship,
president of the Indiana State Council of Senior Citizens in Indianapolis at
317-547-0614.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: William Phillips
The Generations Project
November 14, 2002
wphillips@generationsproject.org
Phone 317-423-7108
View complete press packet
(PDF)
Legislators, policy experts, advocates to
discuss solutions to Indiana's long term care and funding crisis at
November 18th Summit
Leading
experts and state lawmakers will gather in Indianapolis
on November 18 to discuss how Indiana
can make the change from a long-term care system that is too expensive
and does not provide the care people want. The 4th annual Indiana Legislative Summit
on REAL Long Term Care Solutions will take place at the Marriott Hotel on
350 West Maryland Street
in Indianapolis.
The Summit
will run from 9:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
These
issues and solutions will be featured at the Indiana
Legislative Summit
on REAL Long Term Care Solutions. A panel of national experts will
discuss practical and far-reaching home and community based long term
care programs that other states are implementing. A panel of Indiana legislators will present legislation that
will be introduced in the 2003 Indiana
General Assembly to implement a comprehensive system of home and
community based services in Indiana.
Policy experts, advocate, and lawmakers will be available
throughout the day for comment. These panelists will be available for
interviews fifteen minutes prior to and immediately following their panel
discussions. In addition to these opportunities there will be a press
conference directly after the Summit
featuring key Summit participants and
members of the Indiana
General Assembly including Senator Greg Server (R-Evansville).
A detailed
Summit agenda and biographical sketches of
Summit
presenters and policy experts can be found in this release. For more
information about the event, contact John Cardwell, Director of The
Generations Project and Legislative Director of the Citizens Action
Coalition of Indiana
at 317-423-7102 or 317-205-3535.
###