LD 1078 Rally and Hearing

Powering Independent Living

We need your help TO ALL PARTICIPANTS IN ALPHA ONE’S CONSUMER DIRECTED PROGRAMS Over the past few years, the State of Maine’s commitment to providing the best possible home based care choices for Maine citizens with a disability as well as seniors has been slipping. The percentage of the long term care budget spent on institutional services -- nursing homes and assisted living -- has been increasing, while the resources for home based care has been cut. In many cases, services and hours have been reduced. Waiting lists have become longer. People have been forced to make choices for institutional care when they would have preferred home based services. WE NEED YOUR HELP TO REVERSE THIS TREND! On Monday, April 6, 2009 there will be an important rally followed by the public hearing on LD 1078, An Act to Strengthen Sustainable Long-term Supportive Services for Maine Citizens. The rally will be at 12:00 Noon in the Welcome Center on the Ground Floor of the State Capitol Building. The Public Hearing on LD 1078 will begin at 1:00 pm before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee in Room 209 of the Cross Office, next door to the Capitol. As the leading advocate for people with disabilities in Maine, Alpha One is joining with AARP, Maine’s leading advocate for senior citizens, and with Local 771, Maine's Direct Care Worker Union, to support this important legislation that will strengthen access to home based care for Maine citizens. Here are some of the features of LD 1078:

• Rebalances state long term care expenditures to be 50/50 between home and institutional settings
• Adds surrogacy to self-directed alternatives for consumers
• Reduces duplicative administrative elements and costs to make the system easy to access and less expensive to manage - more money can go to services
• Simplifies the intake and assessment process, as well as the care management elements of the program
• Increases choices for consumers and makes those choices easier to understand and access
• Standardizes wage rates and administrative rates to make program more equitable and affordable

JOIN US ON MONDAY - LEND YOUR VOICE AND SUPPORT FOR THESE CHANGES.

Let us know if you are interested in testifying so we can coordinate our message to lawmakers, 207-767-2189.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

SEE YOU ON MONDAY, APRIL 6TH, at noon in the State Capitol in Augusta