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1991.10.29 :  Medicaid Community-Supported Living

Contact: Bob Hardy (202) 245-6145
October 29, 1991

       HHS Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., announced today the
selection of eight states that will provide community supported
living arrangements services to Medicaid eligible individuals
with mental retardation or related conditions.  
       Community supported living arrangements services became an
optional state plan service, available to a maximum of eight
states, as a result of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
1990.  The Health Care Financing Administration, the HHS agency
charged with administering the Medicaid program, received
applications from 27 states.
       The eight states selected to provide CSLA services are:
California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan,
Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
       "All applications were reviewed by panels of experts in
the field of services for people with mental retardation and  
developmental disabilities, before we made a final selection,"
said Gail R. Wilensky, Ph.D., HCFA administrator .  
       Historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate
individuals with disabilities.  National studies have documented
that people with disabilities, as a group, are severely
disadvantaged socially as well as economically.

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       "Our national goals regarding individuals with
disabilities, such as mental retardation, are to assure equality
of opportunity, full participation in the society, independent
living and self-sufficiency," Wilensky continued.
       "With this program, services these people receive may
include personal assistance, training and habilitation services,
24-hour emergency assistance, assistive technology, adaptive
equipment and other support services," Wilensky added. 
"Correspondingly, the goal of community supported living
arrangements services is to encourage personal independence and
productivity." 
       Each state participating in the CSLA program will be
eligible for federal financial participation in the amount of
$1.25 million for fiscal year 1992, $2.5 million in 1993, $3.75
million in 1994 and $4.375 million in 1995.

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