News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 26, 2004 |
Contact: HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343
|
STATEMENT BY TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Regarding the 14th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Fourteen years after the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the importance of this legislation continues to grow. The ADA is an instrument of fairness and equity: it was enacted to help ensure that people with disabilities should not face unnecessary and counterproductive barriers. But it is also more: it embodies our commitment to a society in which all Americans can share their talents and knowledge -- that is, their abilities -- to the greatest extent possible.
President Bush's New Freedom Initiative, launched in the very first days of his administration, recognizes both the immediate challenges and the broader-scale significance of the ADA. It seeks to change outdated policies that limit our support to people with disabilities to expensive and constraining institutional approaches. More broadly, it seeks to create a nation in which disability can be accommodated and barriers overcome so that abilities can be shared. This is a strategy that will serve all Americans richly.
The President has proposed a "Money Follows the Individual Rebalancing Demonstration" that would provide states $1.75 billion over five years to support new community-based approaches in place of institutional services. The projects would demonstrate how public funds could be used more effectively by supporting people with disabilities outside of institutional settings. HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has already awarded $200 million from 2001 through 2004 under the Real Choice Systems Change Grants for Community Living, to enable individuals with disabilities to reside in their homes and participate fully in community life.
CMS is committed to helping states increase their home and community-based care programs. As of the end of this fiscal year, Medicaid will have spent $68.7 billion on home and community-based waiver services since FY 2001, more than was spent in the previous eight years combined. In 1980, only 4 percent of Medicaid long-term care expenditures were for home and community-based care. By 1990, it was still only still only 13 percent. Today, approximately 30 percent of Medicaid long-term care expenditures go to home and community-based care. This is a testament to the states' conviction that these programs work, and to our commitment to rapidly approve and support home and community-based waivers.
Throughout the Department of Health and Human Services, our agencies are taking a wide variety of other actions to support Americans with Disabilities:
- Our Office for Civil Rights is continuing its compliance program to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities under the ADA , with an emphasis on their right to be served in the most integrated setting under the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision. OCR works with the Department of Justice to use alternative dispute resolution techniques whenever possible to resolve complaints.
- Our new Office on Disability launched a joint public-private effort to encourage physical activity for young people with disabilities through mentor relationships.
- Our Administration on Aging (AoA) continues to support family caregivers, by far the largest source of care for our elderly and disabled, through the National Family Caregiver Support program.
- CMS has joined with AoA to develop "one-stop" Aging and Disability Resource Centers to help individuals with disabilities of all ages in accessing the full range of long-term support options.
- Our Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is developing an action plan for carrying out the ambitious recommendations of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
- Our Indian Health Service (IHS) is collaborating with SAMHSA to support persons with disabilities, particularly those with associated drug and alcohol disorders.
- Our Health Resources and Services Administration has provided $25 million to support medical services for children and youth with special health needs, to help ensure access to a family-centered medical home for all children.
Many other efforts are also underway and more are needed as we work to fulfill the vision of the ADA. On this anniversary, throughout our department, we need to recommit ourselves to these goals.
###
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
Last Revised: July 30, 2004
|