Mon 3/20 LD 464 to eliminate wait lists, LD 659 to establish lifespan waiver

[Maine Disability Alerts]

Dear Friends of Mainers with Disabilities,

On 3/20 at 11 am the Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee will hold public hearing on LD 464, An Act to Eliminate Waiting Lists for Community-based Services for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Disability, Brain Injury or Other Related Conditions

Please testify in favor of LD 464

This bill would eliminate the wait lists for MaineCare Section 21 (the comprehensive waiver), Section 29 (the supports waiver), Section 18 (brain injury waiver), and Section 20 (other related. conditions). It would also eliminate the wait lists for state-funded elder services (Chapter 5, Section 63, and Chapter 11)

This bill would go well beyond the biennial budget, which would eliminate only the Section 29 wait list.

Please submit testimony in person, in writing, and/or via zoom.

To testify:

• Go to https://www.mainelegislature.org/testimony/
• Click the “Public Hearing” radio button
  
• Choose “Health and Human Services” from the pull-down menu
  
• Select Mar 20 2023 11:00 AM from the “choose date” pull-down menu
  
• Select the LD 464 radio button
  
• Check the “I would like to testify electronically over Zoom” if you want to testify via zoom
  
• Either upload written testimony or type it into the text box
  
• Fill out first name, last name, city/town of residence, email address, and phone number
  
• Check “I’m not a robot” and click the Submit/Register button
  

If you checked the ‘testify via zoom’ link then you’ll get a zoom link emailed to you. On hearing day you’ll be able to attend as a participant (who can’t talk or turn camera on) until shortly before it’s your turn to testify. When it’s your turn, they’ll “promote” you to a “participant”. Your zoom might look like you’ve lost the connection just momentarily, but then you’ll reappear as a regular participant who can unmute, turn on camera, etc. And you can tell the committee what you think about LD 464. (Senator Baldacci, Representative Meyer, and Distinguished members of the HHS Committee)

LD 659 (the bill to create the lifespan waiver) has public hearing at the same time. You may want to testify about that bill as well. (You'll have to go back to https://www.mainelegislature.org/testimony/ and fill out the form separately if you want to testify on both bills)

Even if you support the lifespan waiver, please understand that LD 464 would eliminate more wait lists and eliminate them faster. Even if you support the lifespan waiver (LD 659), you could still ask for the amount of funding in LD 464 to be used to eliminate wait lists (get people on to the lifespan waiver faster than LD 659 contemplates--and eliminate wait lists that LD 659 wouldn't eliminate, like the Section 18 brain injury waiver wait list).

Thank you!