Medicaid reform bill gains 10,000 signatures
of support, 15 legislative co-sponsors

WATERBURY, Conn. (March 25, 2008) — The Medicaid reform bill pending in the Legislature has received letters with more than 10,000 signatures of support and gained 15 legislative co-sponsors.

The bill (SB No. 561) would increase the number of patients transitioned from institutional care to the new home-care program Money Follows the Person (MFP) and invest in the future of health care by creating jobs that will ensure enough skilled workers available to support a fundamental shift to greater consumer choice in Connecticut’s Medicaid system.

The legislation was unveiled Feb. 14 by Medicaid reform activist Joe Stango and his new partner Naugatuck resident Bob Veillette at a free expo in Waterbury that also launched a letter-writing campaign.

“Once again the people from the state of Connecticut have chosen to support our efforts to bring the freedom of choice to our elderly, disabled of all ages and their families” said Stango, a Southbury resident. 

The bill was approved by the General Assembly’s Human Services Committee on March 13 by a vote of 18-1. The dissenting vote was cast by Republican Rep. Clark Chapin of New Milford, who indicated dissatisfaction with a technical point in one of the proposals but left open the possibility of changing his vote. 

 There are four parts to the proposed bill:

1. Increase the current cap on participants in the first phase of the state’s pending MFP home-care program from 700 individuals to 5,000 over the next five years, funding the expansion with additional federal grants;

2. Launch a second phase of Money Follows the Person (MFP2) in a 50-person pilot program to offer the most generous Medicaid home-care program to individuals, like Veillette, who do not meet the first phase’s requirement for a six-month nursing home stay. Veillette, 63, suffered a massive brain-stem stroke in April 2006 that left him with locked-in syndrome — a condition that leaves a person “locked inside” their body, paralyzed below the eyes but totally cognizant of the world around them. Since then, he and his wife Bonnie have experienced severe financial difficulties because they want him to live at home and the state’s Medicaid policies offer them few choices for assistance;

3. Create a “Money Follows the Person Trust” that would re-invest the federal grant matching money and the millions of dollars MFP will save the state each year. The fund will address the need created by MFP for more nurses, certified nurse assistants and aides with increased training, education and incentives;

4. Enhance financial support for the new Age and Disability Resource Center so the disabled, elderly and their families will have adequate one-stop access to the information they need to make informed choices about Medicaid.

So far, 15 state legislators have agreed to be co-sponsors of the bill. They include:

• Rep. Jason W. Bartlett, 2nd Dist.;
• Rep. Jeffrey J. Berger, 73rd Dist.;
• Rep. Ron Burns, 77th Dist.;
• Rep. Larry B. Butler, 72nd Dist.;
• Sen. Sam S.F. Caligiuri, 16th Dist.;
• Sen. David Cappiello, 24th Dist;
• Rep. Anthony J. D'Amelio, 71st Dist.;
• Rep. Kevin M. DelGobbo, 70th Dist.;
• Rep. Demetrios S. Giannaros, 21st Dist.
• Sen. Joan V. Hartley, 15th Dist.;
• Sen. Robert J. Kane, 32nd Dist.;
• Rep. David K. Labriola, 131st Dist.;
• Rep. Selim G. Noujaim, 74th Dist.;
• Rep. Arthur J. O'Neill, 69th Dist.; and,
• Sen. Edith G. Prague, 19th Dist..

Stango said that he also has commitments from 10 other senators and representatives to co-sponsor the bill, including Rep. Denise Merrill, a co-chair of the Appropriations Committee. With the inclusion of Merrill, the bill would have the co-sponsorship of three of four leaders of the powerful Appropriations committee, including DelGobbo and Cappiello.

Other state officials have also offered their support in testimony for the proposed bill.

In written testimony, State Comptroller Nancy Wyman said: “Long term care within a home and community-based setting is truly a quality of life issue. I offer the assistance of my office on any fiscal issues you may encounter as you look to establish a Long-Term Care Trust Fund.”

And Nancy Shaffer, the state’s long-term care ombudsman, testified: “The long-term care ombudsman program wants to go on record as applauding the proposal to provide specific, significantly higher numbers of individuals to be transitioned into and supported in community settings. The establishment of a trust fund to provide funds to finance long-term care seems to be insightful and makes good fiscal sense.”

Stango founded Advocates for Medicaid Choice in Connecticut (AMCC), a grassroots advocacy movement trying to bring more consumer choice to Connecticut’s Medicaid program, the government health insurance for the disabled and low-income elderly.

AMCC is still collecting support for the proposed bill in the form of a letter than can be downloaded at its Web site at www.letfamilieschoose.org.

Stango’s efforts began in 2005 when he tried to bring his 83-year-old mother, Dora, home from a skilled nursing facility. He learned, however, that because his mother’s care was paid for by Medicaid, her benefits would not follow her home. Unable to afford the cost of caring for his mother at home, Stango was forced to leave her in the nursing facility.  

That began a personal quest to bring consumer choice to Connecticut’s Medicaid policy. During his first push for legislative reform, he received thousands of letters of support from individuals and families who experienced similar inflexibility in the state’s Medicaid system. He has also received thousands of e-mails and phone calls from individuals who not only support him, but also seek his help in keeping their loved ones home. 

In 2006, Stango played a pivotal role in the passage of groundbreaking legislation that allowed Connecticut to apply for a federal grant to participate in MFP, putting it among a handful of states at the forefront of choice-centered Medicaid policy. Stango’s mother passed away before MFP could be launched. When she became gravely ill in December, Stango brought her home and she died six days later on Dec. 17, 2007.