California Congress of Seniors Letter Regarding ALWPP

May 20, 2004

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

The Congress of California Seniors is opposed to the Assisted living Waiver Pilot Program that the Department of Health Services proposes to submit to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services in June of this year.

The Congress of California Seniors has, for the past several years, participated in a cooperative effort of public agencies and many diverse stakeholders to develop ways and means for California to comply fully with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Olmstead case which calls for community based, least restrictive care for disabled and elderly persons. The proposed waiver appears to have been developed in ignorance of or without regard to these efforts and that state plan which resulted from them.

The waiver simply does not reflect the best thinking with regards to home based and community based care. Putting residential care facilities through more regulations and adopting an approach with no input from stakeholders does not advance the goal of improved community based care. Nor does it encourage the cost savings that can result from moving people, when appropriate, from skilled nursing care to home/community settings. The proposal drastically reduces the number of facilities that might care for low-income people. It ignores market conditions and improved reimbursement schemes that reflect different levels of care.

There are much better alternatives to advance the goal of allowing people to age in place and I am sure your department of Health Services, with a bit of prodding from you, can do much better.

Thank you for your support of California’s seniors and disabled.

Best wishes,