Gov. Ned Lamont's administration is backing off a proposal to overhaul the state's Community First Choice (CFC) program.
The state Medicaid plan has been in place since 2015. Under the service, people with disabilities that require long-term services at home are able to self-direct their own caregiving services.
Anyone who is eligible can get on CFC, because it’s an entitlement. But under Lamont’s budget, state officials wanted to change it into a waiver structure. This prospect alarmed advocates, who said that could mean people who need the services in the future would end up on a waiting list, and would have to get care in a nursing home.
Mary-Ann Langton is founder of the Connecticut chapter of the advocacy group ADAPT, and also among the over 7,000 residents currently on Community First Choice. After repeatedly speaking out against the move, ADAPT met with the governor on Thursday about the proposed changes to the program.
Langton said that CFC will continue, “however ADAPT members and policy makers will tweak the program so it can empower more people with disabilities.”
In an email on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Lamont administration acknowledged the meeting, describing it as "very productive."
And that changes to the program, as outlined in Lamont's original budget proposal, are no longer expected.
"We do not expect the changes we proposed in February to move forward as part of the final budget," the spokesperson said.
Appropriations Committee rejects proposal
The meeting between the governor and ADAPT was just days after the legislature’s Appropriations Committee advanced its budget forward, rejecting the proposal to sunset Community First Choice.
State Rep. Jillian Gilchrest (D-West Hartford) is a member of that committee and said there were a number of reasons Lamont's proposal to change CFC couldn't move forward.
“Until they can present the legislature with a clear plan of how they will fill the gaps caused by moving Community First Choice to a waiver, I don't feel, and the Appropriations Committee doesn't feel, we can move forward with that recommendation,” said Gilchrest, who also co-chairs the Human Services Committee.
The Office of Policy Management was also asking people with disabilities and CFC stakeholders to redesign services without the program. In a letter sent to the governor last month, dozens of local disability activists said that they would weigh in only if his administration withdrew the proposal.
Another concern, Gilchrest said, was that there were no conversations about the proposal with people who actually use the program, or other stakeholders, before the governor’s budget came out.
It was, “loud and clear that the governor's plan was half-baked,” Gilchrest said. “There actually wasn't a plan. They put the cart before the horse.”
Keeping residents out of institutional care settings
The Lamont administration pointed to rising costs of the program as the reason for the proposal.
But Sheldon Toubman, litigation attorney with Disability Rights Connecticut, said that the cost of home and community-based services programs are bound to grow as enrollment increases. Such programs also help keep people out of institutional long-term care, which can be far more expensive.
“CFC is a win-win for the taxpayers and for people with severe disabilities wishing independence and to remain in the community,” Toubman said. “We are glad to see that the [Appropriations] Committee has recognized this, and we hope that this signals recognition of the rights of people with disabilities and the end of this unwise recommendation.”
“This state made a commitment years ago to move away from institutional care, and I see Community First Choice as part of that commitment,” Gilchrest said.
Lamont and legislative leaders will still need to negotiate the final budget adjustment for the legislature to vote on before the end of session early next month.
