The Fight is On for Long Term Services and Supports
Attend the Community NOW Advocacy Day

* This Thursday, October 8 at 1:00 pm
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 430*
Click here for map & directions

We Need You to Show our Strength in Numbers on Capitol Hill.

Join your fellow disability advocates to make sure the Community First Choice Option and the CLASS Act make it into the final health care reform bill. Opponents of long term services and supports reforms are working hard against us!

The Community First Choice (CFC) Option was proposed by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) as a way to get the key provisions of the Community Choice Act (CCA) in the health care reform bill. The option would encourage states to provide Medicaid home and community based attendant services (rather than require them as the CCA would do). The CFC Option would be a major step in helping to end Medicaid's institutional bias. The CFC Option is included in the Senate Finance Committee's health care reform bill.

Unfortunately, several governors are expressing their concerns about any expansion of Medicaid.

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act (also called the CLASS Plan) would create a national voluntary long term care insurance program. It was developed to help people better prepare for their long term care needs and to help take pressure off of the Medicaid program. The CLASS Act is in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee's version of the health care reform bill.

Unfortunately, the long term care insurance industry has recently launched a full scale attack on the CLASS plan (despite the fact that it will reduce the federal deficit by $58 billion). Follow this link to read a document that was just leaked to us on what one large long term care insurance company is doing to oppose the CLASS Act.

Whether the CFC option and the CLASS Act make it into the final Senate health care reform bill is up to us. Important work to merge the two Senate bills (Finance and HELP Committee versions) is taking place right now.

We urgently need a strong and visible presence on Capitol Hill of disability and aging community advocates to make sure Congress does not strip these important provisions from the bill.

Please encourage your staff, volunteers, and any other advocates for improved home and community based services to attend this critical event.

» Spread the word «

Community NOW Day Agenda

• 1:00 - 2:00 pm - Information & organizing session. Volunteers get briefing and information to distribute to Senate and House offices.
• 2:00 - 4:00 pm - Advocates drop off CFC Option and CLASS Act information to all Senate offices and key House Committee members offices.
• All Day - Advocates from across the country participate in national call in day and make visits to local district offices of their Members of Congress.

Please RSVP here for the event. (If you have never set up a Google account, you may be asked to do so before viewing the RSVP form. It only takes about 15 seconds to set it up.) It is very important for us to know how many people to expect for this event so we strongly encourage you to RSVP. But if you can't RSVP, please come anyway!

If you have any questions or are having trouble with the RSVP form, please contact me at acosta@thedpc.org.

A sincere thank you in advance for your support!

 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter