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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/UPDATES:
ILLINOIS LEGISLATORS WHO HAVE
SIGNED THE DECLARATION OF COMMITMENT TO CO-SPONSOR THE ILLINOIS OLMSTEAD
IMPLEMENTATION ACT
Please contact Sarah Triano at striano@accessliving.org
for an updated list of legislators who have signed on in support of the
Olmstead Act.
IF YOUR REPRESENTATIVE IS NOT ON THIS LIST, THEN GO GET 'EM! Just
print out our pledge sheet (available in English and Spanish) and
go ask your Senator and Representative to sign it!
Don't know who your representatives are? That's ok. Visit the Illinois
State Board of Elections Legislator Lookup page and put in your address.
Is one of the legislators listed above your representative? If so, go
thank them for their support!
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 THE
ILLINOIS OLMSTEAD IMPLEMENTATION ACT
Olmstead Implementation Act - The Time is Now!
The Supreme Court Decision:
In 1999, The United States Supreme Court ruled that institutionalizing
individuals with disabilities who are able to participate in and benefit
from community settings is a form of discrimination. This decision opened
the doors to people with disabilities who desire to live in the community
and be active participants in their communities.
The Olmstead Implementation Act is a Senate Bill
sponsored by Senator Maggie Crotty and will address the following concerns,
which were raised in the original Supreme Court Case:
- Currently the state of Illinois ranks 49th out of 50 states in providing
community-based services. (Source: the State of the States in Developmental
Disabilities 2005, Braddock et al). Passage of the Olmstead Implementation
Act would attempt to rebalance the bias towards long-term institutional
care.
- People with disabilities suffer illegal discrimination when they are
put in institutions against their will. In Illinois 21% of nursing home
residents expressed/indicated a preference to return to the community.
(Source: The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
Minimum Data Set)
- 73.37% of Illinois long-term care dollars are spent on institutional
care, yet community care also requires state funding. The average
annual cost of institutional care for one person is $ 120,000.00 per
person. Community services can be provided at 1/3 of this price tag.
(Source: MEDSTAT data taken from CMS reports.)
- The Olmstead Implementation Act will not require extra budget
dollars. A simple accounting measure would transfer the money from the
institutional budgets to community-based services.
- The Olmstead Implementation Act simply put, gives people with
disabilities the right to choose. The act applies to anyone "who
is deemed appropriate for community-based services, and does not oppose
such services." Furthermore the Act also states that "The
redistribution required in this section shall not have the effect of:
ii forcing any institutional resident to involuntarily accept community-based
services in lieu of institutional services, or causing any institutional
resident to be involuntarily transferred or discharged."
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