Full Text of HR0344 99th General Assembly
HR0344 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, On February 18, 2015, Governor Bruce Rauner's | 3 | | administration released its proposal for the Fiscal Year 2016 | 4 | | State budget; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, On that day, the Illinois Department of Human | 6 | | Services announced that it intended to save money by making it | 7 | | more difficult to enter the Division of Rehabilitative Services | 8 | | Home Services Program by changing the minimum threshold for | 9 | | eligibility; the Illinois Department on Aging also announced | 10 | | that it intended to save money by making it more difficult to | 11 | | enter the Community Care Program by changing the minimum | 12 | | threshold for eligibility; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, The prior threshold for service was a score of 29 | 14 | | on the Determination of Need Assessment; the new proposed | 15 | | threshold for service would be a score of 37 on the | 16 | | Determination of Need Assessment; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, The current Determination of Need minimum of 29 | 18 | | covers people with disabilities and seniors who are in need of | 19 | | help in critical areas of daily living; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family | 21 | | Services would carry the administrative responsibility for |
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| 1 | | creating the change by seeking federal approval to amend the | 2 | | Medicaid State Plan to change the Determination of Need | 3 | | Assessment score requirement; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, Changing the score from 29 to 37 would immediately | 5 | | eliminate 10,000 people with disabilities from the Home | 6 | | Services Program; changing the score would also prevent 16,000 | 7 | | seniors from becoming eligible for service in the next year, | 8 | | and 21,000 more would be eliminated in reassessment in the next | 9 | | year; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, The members of this body find it unconscionable to | 11 | | deny 47,000 people with disabilities and seniors the | 12 | | opportunity to live independently in their communities; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, The proposed change to the Determination of Need | 14 | | score was made without any input from disability and senior | 15 | | advocates; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Each person with a disability in the Home Services | 17 | | Program saves Illinois Medicaid at least $17,000 a year by | 18 | | living in the community instead of a nursing home; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, Each senior living independently with support | 20 | | from the Community Care Program saves Illinois Medicaid at | 21 | | least $24,000 a year by living in the community instead of a |
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| 1 | | nursing home; and | 2 | | WHEREAS, Thousands of workers in the Home Services Program | 3 | | and the Community Care Program would be left without employment | 4 | | when consumers are made ineligible; therefore, be it
| 5 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 6 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 7 | | state our opposition to the proposed change of the | 8 | | Determination of Need Score minimum threshold from 29 to 37, | 9 | | which would result in thousands of people with disabilities and | 10 | | seniors being left without critical support for activities of | 11 | | daily living in their own homes; and be it further
| 12 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the Governor and the Illinois | 13 | | Department of Human Services to withdraw any and all plans to | 14 | | amend the Medicaid State plan to change the Determination of | 15 | | Need score requirements; and be it further | 16 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 17 | | delivered to the Governor and the Secretary of Human Services.
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