HOW TO ACT NOW TO ADVOCATE FOR INVESTMENT IN HOME AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES - CALLING ALL ADVOCATES! (2544 hits)
For Immediate Release From The Association of Retarded Citizens - United States!
We now have a historic opportunity for change!
Congress is responding to COVID-19 by considering bold action to address the long-term challenge people with IDD face. We can achieve policy priorities The Arc has been fighting for years:
Invest in Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) to expand access to those services and create more and better direct care jobs.
Create a national paid leave program so that families can better balance work and care for a loved one.
Lift people with disabilities out poverty by improving the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
For years, the service system that people with intellectual and development disabilities (IDD) and their families rely on, Medicaid, has needed an update. People are stuck on waiting lists for home and community-based services, the direct care workforce is underpaid, and too often, unpaid family caregivers are filling in the gaps in service.
People are forced to choose between their own health, the health of their families, and their livelihood. We must invest in our care infrastructure and pass a national paid leave program that guarantees paid leave to all – including family caregivers.
People with disabilities are forced to live in poverty to access modest benefits to live on – and that must change. The benefits of the SSI program must be updated to asset limits, and other program rules lift people with disabilities out of poverty.
