INFORMATION ALERT

Evidence Based Research Proves the Community Choice Act is Cost Effective!

Dr. Mitch LaPlante from the University of California San Francisco is recognized as one of the foremost disability researchers in the country. He will be attending our conference and will be available to answer any questions about his research. LaPlante’s report, Estimating the Expense of a Mandatory Home and Community Based Personal Assistant Services Benefit Under Medicaid provides evidence that estimated expenditures are one tenth of those previously reported by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for implementing MiCASSA, now known as the Community Choice Act (S.799). This legislation has been introduced in the last few Congresses and its prospective passage has always been hampered by the brief and inaccurate CBO cost estimate in a letter to Rep. Newt Gingrich in 1997.

Dr. LaPlante will be available to NCIL members at the Legislative and Advocacy Update Monday July 9th at 10:15am. His research proves community based services are affordable! Come by and learn about his recent evidence based publications. This is our opportunity to prove to Congress Community Based Services must be available nationwide!

If your Senator or Representative is not on the following list, call and ask them to sign onto the Community Choice Act. Visit http://www.senate.gov/ and http://www.house.gov/ to determine your Members of Congress.

Senators who signed onto Community Choice Act (S.799) as of July 23, 2007:

Barack Obama [D-IL], Joseph Biden [D-DE], Sherrod Brown [D-OH], Robert Casey [D-PA], Hillary Rodham Clinton [D-NY], Christopher Dodd [D-CT], Richard Durbin [D-IL], Tom Harkin [D-IA], Daniel Inouye [D-HI],  Edward Kennedy [D-MA], Frank Lautenberg [D-NJ], Joseph Lieberman [ID-CT], Ken Salazar [D-CO], Bernard Sanders [I-VT], Charles Schumer [D-NY], and Arlen Specter [R-PA].

Representatives who signed onto H.R. 1621:

Rob Bishop [R-UT], Jo Bonner [R-AL], Nancy Boyda [D-KS], Steve Cohen [D-TN], Joe Courtney [D-CT], Danny Davis [D-IL], Diana DeGette [D-CO], Rosa DeLauro [D-CT], Lloyd Doggett [D-TX], Luis  Gutierrez [D-IL], John Larson [D-CT], Gwen Moore [D-WI], Christopher Murphy [D-CT], Donald Payne  [D-NJ], Janice Schakowsky [D-IL], John Shimkus [R-IL], Christopher Smith [R-NJ], Mark Udall [D-CO], Peter Visclosky [D-IN], James Walsh [R-NY], and Jerry Weller [R-IL].