April 2011 Effort
WGAL story; Woman says change in Federal Mandate would force her into care home
April/May 2011
UDS initiates Grassroots Advocacy Campaign - UDS reaches out to over 1500 Consumers, Attendants, Donors, Supporters, Board and Committee members for their support in a letter/email writing campaign asking our State Legislators to understand our "Right Rates First" situation. If this issue is not acted on responsibly and efficiently hundreds of people will end up on the unemployment lines and in nursing homes adding financial burden to an already overburdened state.
The situation
Medicaid regulations require a policy change in how some Consumer-Directed Attendant Care services are paid for. The change will reduce the amount UDS is paid to provide services. Because Consumer- and Agency-Directed Attendant Care services are intertwined financially, substantially reducing payment for one without increasing payment for others will make it financially impossible for UDS and other provider agencies to deliver services after the proposed changes are implemented on July 1st.
The challenges we face
We need to help Commonwealth staffers and legislators understand that rate-increasing changes for other Attendant Care services must be made at the same time that Medicare-driven, rate-decreasing changes are implemented. The challenges in creating understanding are that: 1) Attendant Care services, and the system that delivers them, are not well-understood by Commonwealth legislators and staffers; 2) we have a new Administration; and, 3) the nursing home lobby has created confusion about the need for Attendant Care as part of a campaign to increase funding for nursing home care by reducing funding for Attendant Care.
Our response
A swift, hard-hitting UDS-led lobbying initiative to explain the Attendant Care situation in clear, consistent and compelling language that legislators and staffers will understand and want to take action to resolve. Success will require that emails, letters and phone calls from the thousands of people who are involved with UDS reach legislators and staffers within the next week. Our communications will also need to stand out from the many others they receive. So, our letters, emails and messages will be crisp, with a different tone and look from the communications you may be used to seeing, and that legislators and staffers are used to receiving.
Learn more
For more information
To learn more about how you can make a difference, contact the UDS Independent Living Resource Center.
888-UDS-4235 or ResourceCenter@udservices.org
