Turning point?

Thursday was the long awaited culmination of our efforts here in Missoula to meet with Sen. Max Baucus. As I arose that morning and put on my ADAPT colors, I felt some optimism that something positive would happen for me and my fellow brothers and sisters. Maybe we would finally get the Senator to realize the need to include community long term care supports into the current healthcare reform efforts.

We arrived at the Missoula Public Library a bit before 10 a.m. and assembled our group of advocates. Senator Baucus arrived shortly before 10 a.m. with his entourage in tow and after some brief introductions we sat down to talk.

The meeting went fairly well but the Senator kept wanting to direct things toward more general healthcare reform. We got him back on track and he brought up the budget figures that the Congressional Budget Office applied towards the CCA legislation. These numbers were skewed and the CBO backed off their initial figures after research proved that home and community based services were far cheaper than nursing home care. Sen. Baucus wanted to know what states are excelling at providing home & community based services. We named the states we were aware of including Montana.

Dustin and I shared testimony of how community based services here in Montana have benefited us. I told the Senator about the sacrifice I made moving away from family and friends in ND just to have a chance at living a free life. I also told the Senator how being institutionalized tears away your freedom and wastes your life. In order to drive the point home, I told the Senator that I went from languishing in a nursing home to now being able to pursue a college degree in Journalism. Sen. Baucus did seem to be very interested in our stories and I hope that I was able impact him in a positive way.

We mentioned to Senator Baucus that failure to remove the institutional bias has civil rights implications because it may put Congress and the Obama Administration in violation of the ADA and the Olmstead decision. This got Max's attention, and he suggested we get some good attorneys to look at that point and possibly force something to be done.

Potentially a breakthrough moment came when we suggested that Medicaid law be changed to mandate Long Term Supports and Services and let states and individuals choose what kind of care they want to receive. It was like a light bulb went off in Sen. Baucus’s head and he said "You know, that might just be the way we get at this issue."

All in all the meeting was a good starting point and the Senator pledged he would keep a continued dialogue going. He put us in touch with one of his D.C. staffers and he wants to hear from us after he returns to D.C in September. I’ll admit it is tough to keep upbeat but hopefully these little steps will add up to a giant leap forwards for Americans with disabilities.

Fall semester is only two weeks away but I’m excited and ready to go. I spent last week gathering my textbooks and getting my necessary accommodations in order. It looks like a few challenging months ahead but hey this is what I’ve been waiting for. I’m looking forward to getting back into my journalism classes and making the push towards applying to the J-school.

In my next few blogs, I’ll be discussing my forays into some excited new adaptive technologies. I have some exciting new projects coming up and I look forward to sharing them with you. That’s all for now but I’ll leave you with a few favorite tunes that I’ve been listening to lately. There will be a video or two on each new post from now on and I hope you’ll enjoy some of my musical influences.





Peace…Mark