The EMPOWER Care Act Would Give People With Disabilities the Freedom They Deserve
On Wednesday, the House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee will consider the , bipartisan legislation to re-authorize the program, which helps people with disabilities move from institutions into the community.
MFP is little known outside of the disability community, but it has been an extremely successful Medicaid program that has helped over 75,000 people with disabilities from 47 states leave institutions and move back into their own homes. It was enacted in 2005 with strong bipartisan support.
MFP was designed to help states transition people with disabilities from institutions into the community as well as to increase access to home- and community-based services. As executive director of the , which administers the state鈥檚 MFP program, I've seen the program do wonders for people. Unfortunately, the program expired September 30, 2016, and states are running out of funding despite the work left to be done. Congress must provide funding for this important work to continue.
Most people, regardless of their age, prefer to live in their own homes and not be stuck in a nursing home or institution for the rest of their life. Take Kelly N. for example. She is only 47 and a mom of a 16-year-old son. Kelly has multiple sclerosis and, as a result of her disability, she was sent to a nursing home two hours from her home and family. Kelly desperately wanted and needed to spend more time with her son, but because of the distance, they didn鈥檛 see each other very often.
Kelly was stuck in the nursing home hours from her family for three years until Kelly got assistance from Open Doors, a program in New York state funded by the MFP program, which reaches out to people in nursing homes and other institutions that have indicated they would like to leave and return home. The program provides people in nursing homes and institutions with objective information on the home- and community-based services that are available to them and helps to facilitate their transition back to their community if they so choose.
The MFP program helped Kelly to move into her mother鈥檚 home with the services she needed, including a ramp to the house, giving her the freedom to come and go as she likes. She is now able to spend much more time with her son and two poodles. Kelly now has her life back, but she would likely still be stuck in the nursing home, isolated from her family without that assistance.
The MFP program has had great success in New York. Since January 2015, over 2,500 people with disabilities and older adults living in the state have left institutions and moved back home using MFP funds. Without the program, people like Maureen H. 鈥� a 76-year-old fiercely independent woman 鈥� would likely have lived out the rest of her life stuck in a nursing home. Before she got help from MFP, Maureen was trapped in a nursing home for more than two years following a hospitalization and amputation of her left leg due to a severe car accident.
With help, Maureen transitioned into her own accessible apartment with the needed supports and services. When the main door proved too heavy for Maureen, staff funded by MFP assisted the landlord with securing funding to install a door opener. Maureen has been living independently now for 3 years, loves her freedom and independence, and says she is not afraid to go out by herself.
The MFP program, however, is still desperately needed. We know from federal data that there are currently around 22,000 New Yorkers living in nursing facilities who have expressed an interest in returning to their communities. And in our role running New York鈥檚 MFP program, we鈥檝e received over 9,500 referrals since the program began and are currently actively assisting over 1,500 individuals. Every day people unexpectedly end up in a nursing home or other institutional setting, whether because of their health, disability, or an unexpected event, such as in the case of Maureen.
And without assistance to navigate the various service systems, it鈥檚 easy to get stuck. People often lose their homes during an unexpected institutionalization, or they are not aware of the services available to them in the community and are uncertain of their ability to live independently again.
This is why we need Congress to save MFP, which funds 47 state programs like ours across the country. The EMPOWER Care Act is bipartisan legislation that would do just that. Congress must pass the EMPOWER Care Act to ensure that this vital pipeline to freedom continues to exist for the hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities still languishing in institutions.
Lindsay Miller is the executive director of the .
Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues on This Page
-
CaliforniaDec 2024
Disability Rights
Powers v. McDonoughPowers v. McDonough
Every night, thousands of veterans sleep without shelter on the streets of Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Department of Veterans Affairs owns hundreds of acres of land in prime West Los Angeles鈥攍and directly adjacent to a VA medical facility that was once earmarked to house veterans, but today is instead home to private school sports fields and an oil well. In November 2022, a group of unhoused veterans and a non-profit organization filed suit alleging that the Department of Veterans Affairs (鈥淰A鈥�) failed to provide adequate housing and health care to veterans with severe disabilities in Los Angeles. These failures have significantly undermined veterans鈥� abilities to access the benefits they are entitled to by law, leaving many stranded on the streets after serving our country. The veterans sued the VA under the Rehabilitation Act, a federal statute that prohibits federal agencies from discriminating against people with disabilities. As a remedy, the plaintiffs seek the construction of significant units of permanent supportive housing on the The VA argued that a provision of the Veterans鈥� Judicial Review Act (鈥淰JRA鈥�)鈥� a federal statute that prohibits federal district courts from second-guessing VA鈥檚 individualized benefits determinations鈥攂ars federal district courts from hearing the veterans鈥� Rehabilitation Act claims. Should the court accept this position, it would deprive veterans of a meaningful opportunity to have their rights under the Rehabilitation Act and other generally applicable nondiscrimination statutes enforced. -
News & CommentaryDec 2024
Criminal Law Reform
Disability Rights
Incarceration Should Not be a Death Sentence for Individuals Who Use OpioidsIncarceration Should Not be a Death Sentence for Individuals Who Use Opioids
New litigation centered on increasing access to substance-use disorder treatment in jails and prisons is helping to reduce mortality rates among incarcerated individuals. -
Press ReleaseSep 2024
Disability Rights
Criminal Law Reform
Lawsuit Challenging Armed Police Response to Mental Health Emergencies in Washington, D.C. to ProceedLawsuit Challenging Armed Police Response to Mental Health Emergencies in Washington, D.C. to Proceed
WASHINGTON 鈥� A federal judge in Washington, D.C. today rejected the District of Columbia鈥檚 motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the 老澳门开奖结果, the 老澳门开奖结果 of the District of Columbia, and the law firm Sheppard Mullin. The lawsuit contends that the District鈥檚 emergency response system discriminates against people with mental health disabilities by deploying armed police officers to address the vast majority of mental health crises while sending trained medical professionals to most other health emergencies. 鈥淭his ruling moves us one step closer to bringing essential, life-saving emergency mental health care to D.C. communities. Qualified providers are best equipped to handle mental health emergencies with skills and compassion; police with a gun only serve to escalate, handcuff, and arrest,鈥� said Ashika Verriest, senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Criminal Law Reform Project. 鈥淔ar too many people are harmed at the hands of police during a mental health crisis, or simply receive ineffective care. This must end.鈥� The plaintiff in the case is Bread for the City, a D.C.-based nonprofit supporting underserved communities. The lawsuit contends that the District鈥檚 unequal response to mental health crises violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. The ruling will move the case forward, allowing the 老澳门开奖结果 to show in court that a fully functioning mental health crisis response system that sends a medical, rather than a law enforcement, response to most mental health crises is legally required. 鈥淩elying on mental health professionals, not armed police, to serve people experiencing mental health crises is not just logical, it鈥檚 required under the law. Today鈥檚 decision made clear that communities can鈥檛 single out mental health emergencies for worse services than other health emergencies,鈥� said Michael Perloff, staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果 of the District of Columbia. The ruling comes on the heels of a recommendation made in a similar case filed against Washington County, Oregon by the 老澳门开奖结果, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Oregon, Disability Rights Oregon, and Sheppard Mullin. On August 30, 2024, a federal magistrate judge recognized that sending police, rather than health providers to a mental health crisis, may be discrimination against people with mental health disabilities in violation of federal law. The magistrate judge recommended that the case proceed. More details about the case are accessible here: /cases/bread-for-the-city-v-district-of-columbia -
Press ReleaseSep 2024
Criminal Law Reform
+2 Issues
Judge Orders Supervision System in Washington, D.C. to Accommodate People with DisabilitiesJudge Orders Supervision System in Washington, D.C. to Accommodate People with Disabilities
WASHINGTON 鈥� A federal court granted a preliminary injunction yesterday in a case filed on behalf of people with disabilities on parole and supervised release in Washington, D.C., ordering immediate action to address discriminatory conditions faced by the two named plaintiffs. The court also denied the government鈥檚 motion to dismiss, allowing the case to proceed. The case, brought by the 老澳门开奖结果, 老澳门开奖结果 of D.C., Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and Latham & Watkins LLP, challenges the federal government鈥檚 post-conviction supervision system in Washington, D.C. for systematically ignoring the needs of people with disabilities, thereby setting them up for failure on supervision and putting them at constant risk of sanctions, including incarceration. As the court held in its decision, such accommodations are likely required under federal disability law, specifically the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The preliminary injunction requires that the United States Parole Commission and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), the two federal agencies responsible for supervision in D.C., assess what reasonable accommodations the two named plaintiffs require to have an equal opportunity to succeed on supervision, and provide all such required accommodations. 鈥淎bsent an injunction,鈥� the court鈥檚 decision reads, 鈥渢he Parolees will be forced to participate in the Government鈥檚 supervision programs on an unequal footing just because of their disabilities.鈥� People on supervision in D.C. are required to comply with myriad and onerous rules. For people with disabilities, navigating these complex conditions is even more challenging. For example, Plaintiff Mr. Mathis 鈥� a 70-year-old military veteran with congestive heart failure that limits his ability to walk 鈥� struggles to travel throughout the city to attend frequent supervision meetings that often conflict with necessary medical procedures and hospitalizations. His supervision officer required him to wear an ankle monitor even after his doctor warned the monitor would jeopardize his health due to his heart condition. Plaintiff Mr. Davis, who lives with chronic pain stemming from third-degree burns as well as mental health conditions, also faces disability-related barriers getting to required meetings. Yet failing to meet any of these conditions, even something as simple as missing an appointment, can land a person back in jail or prison, even when no new criminal conduct is alleged. The court agreed that 鈥渁bsent immediate relief, the Parolees will face irreparable harm; namely, obstacles to success on supervision solely because of their disabilities, which expose them to downstream harms like revocation and reincarceration.鈥� The court did not decide whether it will ultimately certify a class that could yield relief for all people on supervision in D.C. who need accommodations. Instead, the court directed the parties to agree on a schedule for further proceedings on that issue. 鈥淭he undue hardships faced by people with disabilities on federal criminal supervision in the District of Columbia have gone unaddressed for too long,鈥� said Scott Michelman, legal director, 老澳门开奖结果 of the District of Columbia. 鈥淭his decision is a victory for equal treatment and common sense.鈥� 鈥淭he Court鈥檚 opinion emphatically rejects the federal government's 鈥榙o-nothing鈥� policy for people with disabilities on supervision in Washington, D.C., who have been forced to navigate onerous requirements without accommodations for decades,鈥� said Allison Frankel, staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果 Criminal Law Reform Project. 鈥淭his ruling ensures that our named Plaintiffs will have the accommodations they need to have a fair shot at completing parole and remaining in their communities.鈥� 鈥淲e are thrilled the Court recognized that the Parole Commission and CSOSA must accommodate our clients鈥� disabilities so that they have an equal opportunity to succeed on supervision,鈥� said Zo茅 Friedland, staff attorney with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. 鈥淲e will keep fighting to make this relief permanent and systemic so that all people on supervision have an equal chance to succeed.鈥� The decision on the preliminary injunction can be found here: /cases/mathis-v-united-states-parole-commission?document=Preliminary-Injunction-Opinion The complaint can be found here: /documents/w-mathis-v-united-states-parole-commission-complaint