In addition- the Wall Street Journal had an article on the front page of their newspaper yesterday titled “'Mainstreaming' Trend Tests Classroom Goals”. Unfortunately, I was not able to pull the entire story from their website (you have to be a subscriber).  Here is the link for fyi:

April 16, 2007

Dearest Advocates:

Please find below additional information regarding our advocacy efforts. MANY thanks to those 25 families/kids/providers/concerned citizens (and even a grandma!) that took time out of their busy schedules to come down to the Capitol today to show a unified voice on this issue.......The Aged, Blind and Disabled populations can NOT be in another managed care model!

The Senate listened and took this proposal OUT of their version of the 2008 Budget!

BUT our advocacy efforts must continue........PLEASE take a moment and call and/or email the below legislators (ESPECIALLY if you are in their District. It means more when you live in their district!!!!!) and the Governor letting them know that managed care does not work in this population of individuals and why. 

Please make your stories personal and how it could impact your family. Also thank the Senators for taking it out of their version of the budget and help the our House of Representatives understand better so they will support that final decision with the 08 Budget!

To help you with your phone calls and emails, below are some of the facts to the situation..........

Facts:

Many of our families already have a managed healthcare network! With the Katie Beckett Waiver children alone, 71% of those waivers use Medicaid as SECONDARY INSURANCE and have primary healthcare insurance.  Why would we need to be in ANOTHER managed care situation?

For the other Waivers (including MRWP, SOURCE, ICWP, CCSP, etc) - They are already in a managed care model.  

There needs to be a lot more thought and input into this option before adding into the budget at the last minute.  No study data is available at this time. We don’t even know how many individuals this could impact!  

This plan was not discussed in any public meetings and was NOT recommended by the Appropriation Health Subcommittee and Dept. of Community Health (DCH)!  DCH Commissioner Medows says the plan is premature because the State has less than a year’s experience with the current managed care (CMO) model in place.

DCH would have to get a 1115 Waiver from the Federal Medicaid office even if this is approved by the Georgia legislator (which takes time).

Given the complexity and needs of this vulnerable population, many who have private health insurance and hold Medicaid as secondary insurance, the cost of coordinating care would be a financial burden to Medicaid and could actually end up costing the State more taxpayer dollars!

Bottom line: Managed care is NOT a good service delivery model for the Age, Blind and Disabled populations and could actually cost the state taxpayers more money.  We need more time to evaluate the options before this radical approach is taken. Please remove this line item from the 2008 Budget!

Thanks in advance for your support.

UNITED... WE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Our advocacy efforts are paying off...keep up the GREAT WORK!

Sincerely, Heidi

 Laura O. Moore

Founder and CEO

Dream House for Medically Fragile Children, Inc.

laura.moore@dreamhouseforkids.net

770-717-7410

Leanne D. Manning

Project & Advocacy Coordinator

leanne.manning@dreamhouseforkids.org

678-462-7789

Heidi J. Moore

heidijmoore@comcast.net

678-357-8200

YOUR VOICE WAS HEARD!!!

Dream House Call to Action Update

United…We are making a difference!!!

Our state leaders heard from you today, your phone calls and emails made the difference and the Senate did not approve the last minute amendment that would implement a managed care program for the Aged, Blind and Disabled Medicaid population in the Atlanta region, which is said to become effective January 1, 2008.

We have one more thing to do…

The House and Senate Committees will now need to work out their differences on this issue,

So we still need to call and email our legislatures,

Especially tomorrow, Tuesday, April 17! 

Please voice your concern about this rush of putting the aged, disabled and blind into care management.  We would like to have the study data used to validate how many aged, blind and disabled people this change would affect made public and given time to review that data; to learn about how much money this change would actually save or cost, both long and short term; and to be able to participate in timely public response before this change is implemented into legislation.

We do not want the state budget balanced upon the health and lives

 of children or elderly folks, disabled, or blind people.

But what can I do that  will make a difference?

1.      Please call and email your state legislature on Tuesday!! You can find your State Senator and Representative by going to www.vote-smart.org and typing in your zipcode.

2.      Please call Governor Sonny Purdue’s office at 404-656-1776, or FAX: 404-657-7332 or email: sperdue@gov.state.ga.us.

3. Contact Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s office at 404-656-5109 or email him at: http://ltgov.georgia.gov/00/article/0,2086,2199618_2208307_11792200,00.html  

4. Contact Senator Jack Hill at 404-656-5038 or jack.hill@senate.ga.gov

5. Contact Senator Tommie Williams at 404-656-0089 or tommie.williams@senate.ga.gov or tommie@tommiewilliams.com

6. Contact Senator Eric Johnson at 404-656-5109 or  eric.johnson@senate.ga.gov or ejohnson56@comcast.net 

7. Representative Ben Harbin at 404-463-2247 or  ben.harbin@house.ga.gov

8. Rep. Jerry Keen 404-656-5052 jlkeen@bellsouth.net

9. Rep. Mark Burkhalter 404-656-5072 or  mark.burkhalter@house.ga.gov

Dream House for Medically Fragile Children, Inc. provides education, skills training, and assistance with healthcare equipment acquisition and resource referrals, so that kinship, foster, and adoptive families can care for medically fragile children in their own 'dream home'.

###

April 13, 2007

Dearest Advocates:

URGENT ALERT! Please Read and write and call TODAY…….

A surprising item showed up in the Fiscal Year 2008 budget when it was passed out of House Appropriations on Thursday, April 12.  It is in the Department of Community Health Budget, and the item reads as follows:  "The Department of Community Health shall implement a managed care program for the Aged, Blind and Disabled Medicaid population in the Atlanta region, effective January 1, 2008."  ($30,000,000) 

This means that legislators expect that they can save 30 million dollars by putting this population (individuals in waivers, Katie Beckett, Children's Medical Services) into managed care.  They need an 1115 waiver to do this.  Dept. of Community Health and the House and Senate Budget offices have a lot of concerns about the ability to implement this change.  We have been advised to contact the Senate with these concerns.  The budget will go to the Senate floor Tuesday, and then it will go to conference committee to work out the differences. 

What you can do to make a difference by Tuesday -April 17, 2007:

Please Contact the Senate leadership:

1. Jack Hill, Chair of Appropriations jack.hill@senate.ga.gov, 404-656-5038

2. Greg Goggans, Vice Chair, appropriations, Health  drgg@alltel.net  or greg.goggans@senate.ga.gov  404-463-5263

3. Tommy Williams, Appropriations, tommie.williams@senate.ga.gov or tommie@tommiewilliams.com 404-656-0089

4. Casey Cagle, Lt. Governor, go to the following website to contact him:

http://ltgov.georgia.gov/00/article/0,2086,2199618_2208307_11792200,00.html   or 404- 656-5030

5. Eric Johnson, Senate 1, President Pro-Tem, eric.johnson@senate.ga.gov or ejohnson56@comcast.net 404-656-5109

6. Also please contact your individual State Senator for your own district by going to www.vote-smart.org and typing in your zip code.   

Talking Points:

1. Many of our families are already in a healthcare network already! With the Katie Beckett Waiver children alone, 72% of those waivers use Medicaid as SECONDARY INSURANCE and already have Primary Healthcare insurance.  Why would we need to be in ANOTHER managed care situation?
2. Managed care will probably NOT save money for individuals that have primary healthcare insurance and use their own provider networks and may end of COSTING MEDICAID MORE MONEY if coordination is not done properly.
3. For the other Waivers (including MRWP, etc)- We are already in a managed care situation.  Our families need home and community based service which managed care companies do NOT do well.
4. We do not want managed care to interfere with the implementation of the MRWP/NOW waiver.
5. There needs to be a lot more thought and input into this option before putting into the budget at the last minute.  
6. BOTTOMLINE: Managed care is NOT a good service delivery option for individuals with disabilities!

I recommend that you first call them. If you feel uncomfortable with that, send them individual emails on this matter.  Please try to not send in a distribution list (it is not as likely to be read).

Also- make your phone call/message or email personal. Explain how this personally impacts your family.

As many of you are aware, the managed care program (CMO- Care Management Organization) has had a ton of difficulties in the general Medicaid population in the last year since implementation and continues to work thru it’s issues……Why would we want to be a part of this program given the complexity and needs of our children and many of us already have primarily healthcare insurance with Medicaid as secondary?

The State of Georgia needs to fiscally responsible for our tax dollars and this is NOT going to achieve that. WE ALL NEED TO HELP EDUCATE OUR LEGISLATORS ABOUT THE TRUTH AND NOT WHAT IS BEING LOBBIED BY THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY!

I have not been writing as many emails lately due to my health and my son’s but I feel that this was too important for all of you to know what is really going on and be apart of the education and change in Georgia.

This is VERY serious…….Please take a moment and contact the above Senators…..YOUR child’s Medicaid may depend on it!

Sincerely,

Heidi