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Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

Take Action to Save MFP – New National Days of Action This Week!

Your actions in early February to ask the Senate to #FundMFP made a big impact, and now it is time to once again take action to make the EMPOWER Care Act law!

As a reminder, Money Follows the Person (MFP) expired on September 30, 2016, and states are starting to scale back and end their MFP programs. All programs will be out of money this year! We need your advocacy to get the House and Senate to pass the EMPOWER Care Act to reauthorize and fund MFP!

NCIL logo - National Council on Independent LivingMFP was enacted in 2005 with strong bipartisan support. It was designed to help states transition people with disabilities from institutions to the community, and to assist states in rebalancing their long-term services and supports (LTSS) systems to increase access to home and community-based services. MFP is one of the longest running, most successful Medicaid demonstrations. Since it began, 47 states have participated and over 75,000 disabled people have been liberated from institutions, and Centers for Independent Living (CILs) have played a critical role in that. Congress must work to save and fund MFP, and they need to hear from us! The EMPOWER Care Act has already been introduced by Senators Portman (R-OH) and Cantwell (D-WA) in the Senate (S. 2227), and it’s expected to be introduced in the House by Representatives by Guthrie (R-KY) and Dingell (D-MI) this week. Please urge your Senators and Representative to continue the Money Follows the Person program by supporting the EMPOWER Care Act!

Take Action Now!

  • Participate in Wednesday’s National Call-In Day! Call your Representative and Senators and tell them to support the EMPOWER Care Act and pass it immediately! Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or (202) 224-3091 (TTY). Find more information at Wednesday’s Facebook event. RSVP and share widely!
  • Participate in Thursday’s National Social Media Day! Tweet at your Representative and Senators and post on Facebook. Find their Twitter handles and other contact information on Contacting Congress. Make sure to use the hashtag #FundMFP in your posts. You can find more information, including sample Tweets, at Thursday’s Facebook event.
  • Email your members of Congress! You can customize a message to your members of Congress and see the data on responses.
  • Highlight MFP in the press! Arrange press interviews highlighting the stories of folks who were able to move home because of MFP, or individuals who are stuck in institutions and would benefit from MFP’s extension. Media coverage can be key to gaining the support of members of Congress AND the public. If you successfully get the press to cover MFP, please send a link of the coverage to [email protected].

Comments

  1. cristinasp says

    Thank you Lisa Mena I appreciate your comment