VOR releases paper on “The myth of An Institutional Bias in Medicaid for Persons with Mental Retardation”

Often it is alleged that 70% of all Medicaid long-term care dollars pay for institutional care.  In reality, the Medicaid program for long-term care spends more dollars and supports more people and supports more people with MR/DD in the community than for those in Intermediate Care Facilities for Persons with Mental Retardation (ICFs/MR)

What then, is the so-called institutional bias in the numbers occurs because Medicaid defines “institutional care” to include all Medicaid-eligible populations, the vast majority of whom are the Non-MR/DD, elderly who reside in nursing facilities.  The facts are far different when one separates the MR/DD and elderly populations.  The “institutional bias” of Medicaid myth as applied to services for persons with MR/DD can have dangerous consequences for our most fragile citizens.  For example, such proposals such as Money Follows the Person (MFP) and the Medicaid Attendant Services and Supports Act (MiCASSA) are motivated by a desire to “rebalance” the system by increasing community supports at the expense of “institutional” (including ICF/MR) options.  In this process, ICF/MR care may become uneconomical and extinct, risking the health, safety and very lives of people with severe and profound mental retardation if these facilities close. While there is a need to expand community-based options, it should not be done at the expense of another Medicaid population.  Focus on expansion must address the areas of greatest need for people with MR/DD – the provision of quality community options, including ready access to health care services, and helping those on waiting lists for services.  VOR has disseminated its “Myth” paper to all of Congress and is considering broader dissemination, including to VOR members.  For more information, please contact Tamie at 605-399-1624 and vor@compuserve.com

Taken from the Voice of The Retarded Summer 2004 Edition.

Web-sites of interest to parents and guardians of people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities:

Mentally Retarded Citizens of Missouri, Inc. – www.rcomo.org

American Association on Mental Retardation – www.aamr.org/index.shtml

Autism Society of America – www.autism-society.org

Community Connections – www.communityconnection.org

Missouri’s Guide to Home and Community Based Services – http://www.gcd.oa.mo.gov/

Missouri Developmental Disabilities Resource Center – www.moddrc.com

Missouri Department of Mental Health – www.dmh.missouri.gov