Dirksen Senate Office Building

June 1, 2017

Senator Bob Corker

Dirksen Senate Office Building

SD425

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Corker:

The Arc Tennessee is a statewide non-profit advocacy organization that represents over 102,000Tennesseans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), as well as their families and friends.We work to protect and enhance the rights of people with I/DD so that they may live, learn, work, and thrive in their communities.

The American Health Care Act (AHCA) recently passed by the House is threatening the very rights of people with I/DD that we have worked so hard to earn and protect over the years. The $834 billion dollar cut to the Medicaid program included in the AHCA will decimate the system of services and supports that people with I/DD needto be fully participating members of society.

On top of the proposed Medicaid cuts in the AHCA, President Trump’s proposed budget includes another $613 billion in cuts to the Medicaid program. His disregard for the country’s most vulnerable adults and children is evident in his cut to this program and other disability related programs.

Tennessee currently receives $2 in federal funding for every $1 in state funding contributed to the Medicaid (TennCare) program. These funds have helped Tennessee:

• reduce its waiting list for people with ID;
• create the new Employment and Community First CHOICES (ECF) program for people with I/DD that is specifically designed to maximize employment and community living options in a more cost effective manner than other programs;
• expand the CHOICES program for people with physical disabilities and people who are elderly;
• increase wages for Direct Support Workers (DSWs) charged with caring for these vulnerable populations;
• rebalance the system of long term services and supports toward community-based options over institutional ones.

These gains will be lost if you and other members of the Senate allow these Medicaid cuts to proceed.Tennesseans with I/DD and their families are counting on you to be the voice of Tennessee’s most vulnerable citizens. People with I/DD have lifelong disabilities that impact every aspect of their lives. The vast majority were born with their disability or acquired them at a young age. These are people with Downsyndrome, cerebral palsy, autism, William’s syndrome, spina bifida and other intellectual and developmental disabilities who deserve the same opportunities as everyone else – to live, learn work, and thrive in their communities. They simply need additional support to level the playing field. Medicaid is the program that provides those critical supports to level the playing field.

Medicaid cuts must be taken off the table in the AHCA and in the President’s budget.

On behalf of the thousands of Tennesseans with I/DD and their families that we represent, please preserve Medicaid funding. Vote NO on any legislation or budget that contains cuts to this critical program. Your constituents with I/DD and their families are depending upon you.

Should you or your staff wish to discuss the information in this letter in more detail or if you have any other questions about the needs of people with I/DD and their families, please contact me by cell phone at 480-236-9722 or by email .

Sincerely,

Carrie Hobbs Guiden

Executive Director

The Arc Tennessee