[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 101 (Thursday, July 10, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S9236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MONEY FOLLOWS THE PERSON

  Mr. SMITH. Madam President, my job as a Senator is to help protect 
and defend the freedoms of all Americans. Among the most basic freedoms 
are those we most often overlook: the freedom to choose where we live--
for example, among family and friends and not among strangers--the 
freedom to walk down your neighborhood street, and not in a restricted 
courtyard; and the freedom to be an active member in your community.
  All too often, these basic freedoms are denied to older Americans and 
Americans with disabilities. I have noticed an alarming trend in this 
country: we are unnecessarily isolating people with disabilities from 
their communities, friends, families, and loved ones by placing them in 
institutional care facilities.
  Many of these Americans should not be in a nursing home or other 
institutional setting. Many Americans with disabilities could be better 
served--and better integrated into their communities--by allowing them 
to live in community-based homes.
  However, recent data indicates that 70 percent of Medicaid dollars 
are spent on institutional care and only 30 percent are spent on 
community services for the disabled. Because Medicaid requires that 
States provide nursing home care for Americans with disabilities but 
does not require the same for community-based services, many 
individuals with disabilities and older Americans are forced to live in 
isolated settings.
  In order to preserve the freedoms of our friends in the disabled 
community and their loved ones, we must do something to reverse this 
trend. I would therefore like to join my distinguished colleague from 
Iowa as a cosponsor of the Money Follows the Person Act of 2003. The 
Senator from Iowa and I first introduced the provisions of this act as 
an amendment to S. 1, the Medicare and Prescription Drug Improvement 
Act of 2003.
  This bill would enact the President's 2004 Money Follows the Person 
Program to give people with disabilities the freedom to choose where 
they want to live. Under this legislation, Oregon's effort to help an 
individual move out of an institutional facility and into a community 
home would be 100 percent federally funded for 1 year. After that first 
year, the Federal Government would pay its usual rate. Under the 
provisions of this bill, States can take advantage of $350 million 
annually for 5 years for a total of $1.75 billion.
  These dollars can help reintegrate countless older Americans and 
Americans with disabilities into a setting where they can be more 
active citizens. For instance, this bill is supported by the Oregon 
Chapter of Paralyzed Veterans because it helps honor and reintegrate 
those veterans whose disabilities resulted from noble and selfless 
service to this Nation.
  Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Olmstead Supreme 
Court decision, we know that the needless institutionalization of 
Americans with disabilities constitutes discrimination under the 
Americans with Disabilities Act.
  Americans everywhere realize the value of integrating Americans with 
disabilities into our communities. Needlessly isolating productive 
citizens from their communities, whether they are disabled or not, is 
unfair and unjust. It is time we work to reintegrate disabled Americans 
back into our communities.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this 
important bill and to support the freedom of choice for Americans with 
disabilities.

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