May 13, 1998
Contact: Michael Auberger (901) 528-1800, Room M-4
Marsha Katz (901) 522-9700, Room 312
Sundquist Epitomizes Flaws in "States' Rights"
Vice President Gore, Native Son of First Worst State
500 members of ADAPT had their belief in states' rights tested by
Governor
Don Sundquist's refusal to support Tennesseans with disabilities, young
and old. Despite strong support for ADAPT from Memphis Mayor W. W.
Herenton and Shelby County Mayor Jim Rout, Sundquist refused to work for
home and community based services that could keep Tennessee citizens out
of nursing homes and institutions.
"Governors like Sundquist who choose to ignore the cost effectiveness and
rightness of home and community based services, and instead continue to
sentence their citizens to death in nursing homes, leave us with only one
solution - federal legislation that guarantees choice for all Americans.
We'll just have to go to another level," concluded Michael Auberger,
national ADAPT organizer.
ADAPT's legislation, H. R. 2020, also known as the Medicaid Community
Attendant Services Act of 1997 or MiCASA (Spanish for My House), would
set
minimum standards for all the states. H. R. 2020 is co-sponsored by
Minority Leader Richard Gephardt and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
It currently has 62 additional co-sponsors, split evenly between
Democrats
and Republicans, and allows citizens to choose home and community based
services over nursing homes. Despite its broad bipartisan support, the
Clinton Administration has yet to endorse H. R. 2020. Tennessee Native
Son, Vice President Al Gore, was invited to address the disability
community in Memphis, but refused to meet with ADAPT to discuss the
issues. Gore hails from the nation's First Worst state in investing tax
dollars in institutionalizing persons with disabilities, young and old,
rather than offering them the choice to live with needed services in
their
own homes.
"I don't understand how Vice President Gore can sleep at night knowing
about all the persons trapped and dying in Tennessee nursing homes. He
hasn't lifted a finger to help us. Is he another Sundquist?" asked Dawn
Russell of Memphis.
"Another influential Tennessean, Nancy Ann Min DeParle, Administrator of
HCFA (Health Care Financing Adminstration) needs to take a strong public
position in favor of H. R. 2020. She must help stop the warehousing and
deaths of men, women, and children with disabilities in the nation's
nursing homes and other institutions." added Bob Liston, an ADAPT
organizer from Michigan.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION on American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today
(ADAPT)
Please visit our website at http://www.adapt.org/
For direct inquiries regarding this press release please use the contact
information at the beginning of this message or Email
adaptpr(AT)adapt.org
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