Independent Living Research

RESEARCH INFORMATION ON INDEPENDENT LIVING
Permission granted to reproduce. Please cite source.
Volume 2, Issue 9

New Freedom Initiative

Today’s 54 million Americans living with a disability represent 20% of the U.S. population, according to federal government estimates. Almost half of these individuals have a severe disability that makes it hard or impossible to do daily living activities. An additional 25 million family caregivers and numerous others provide assistance to people with disabilities.

In recognition of this population, President George W. Bush announced the New
Freedom Initiative, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/freedominitiative/freedominitiative.html
a move to remove community living barriers for people with disabilities, on February 1, 2001. The New Freedom Initiative is a comprehensive plan to make sure all Americans have the opportunity to learn and develop skills, do productive work, make choices about their daily lives, and participate fully in community life. Its goals are to:

Increase access to assistive and universally-designed technologies.
Expand educational opportunities.
Promote homeownership.
Integrate Americans with disabilities into the workforce.
Expand transportation options.
Promote full access to community life.

The plan was inspired, in part, by the July 1999 Olmstead Supreme Court decision that challenged federal, state, and local governments to develop more community services for individuals with disabilities.

As a part of the New Freedom Initiative, the President issued Executive Order 13217, "Community-Based Alternatives for Individuals with Disabilities," on June 18, 2001. This order requires the federal government to assist states and localities to make sure the Olmstead decision is put into place.

The order also requires the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Education, Labor and Housing and Urban Development and the Social Security Administration to evaluate their policies and programs to improve the availability of community-based services for people with disabilities.

Part of the plan is putting into place the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 that provide continued health insurance for persons with disabilities and the creation of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Other steps also are the $120 million in Systems Change Grants for states to expand community-based approaches and the National Caregiver Support Programs to help families care for a family member at home or in the community.

A number of states already have started programs that serve individuals in community settings rather than institutions. Examples include diversion programs to keep people in the community, transition programs to move individuals from institutional settings to community placements, and "money follows the person" programs to make sure participants have stable funding.

For example, Arkansas, Florida, and New Jersey, Medicaid programs known as Cash and Counseling Demonstration Evaluations allow eligible beneficiaries with long-term disabilities to directly control their personal care services and expenses.

Another state example is Kansas. The federal government approved a Kansas plan in 2002 to allow people with disabilities returning to work to retain their Medicaid coverage - removing a key barrier that will allow more Kansans to lead productive lives. Kansas now can extend its Medicaid eligibility to cover working people with disabilities with family incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty level and with assets of up to $15,000.

Eligible beneficiaries with family incomes above the federal poverty level (FPL) will pay a premium based on a sliding fee scale. This change was due in part to the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, which gave states greater flexibility to assist workers with disabilities under the Medicaid program.

Cindy Higgins, The Research and Training Center on Independent Living, The University of Kansas, 1000 Sunnyside Ave., Room 4089 Dole Center, Lawrence, KS 66045-7555, (785) 864-4095, E-mail: [email protected]. This project is funded by the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research grant #H133A980048.

Information for this review came from the interactive Research Information on Independent Living (RIIL) database at www.GetRiil.org, which contains research summaries related to independent living with disabilities. A special effort has been made to include information that independent leaders in the field said they wanted, namely topics regarding accessible, affordable housing, effective advocacy for rural areas, effective transition from schools and nursing homes, accessible, affordable transportation, reaching underserved populations, policies that impede independent living, rural health care services, and Medicaid/Medicare regulations for durable equipment.

RIIL is a joint effort of the Research and Training Center on Independent Living at the University of Kansas and the Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU) Program of TIRR