Approximately 300 protesters filled two intersections outside the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle. Many were in wheelchairs bearing state flags from as far as Texas and Delaware.
Some wore green shirts saying Free Our People. The group was organized by American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT).
Disabled people should have a choice, said Doris J. King, an activist from Murray, who found herself relying on a wheelchair at age 54, after she had a stroke.
Medicaid currently pays for nursing home care for people who cannot afford alternatives.
Activists are pushing governors to back legislation that would permit those funds to pay for home-based long-term care, freeing money for attendant care and supportive services so that people can stay in their homes if they so choose.
The focus of the governor's three-day meeting, which ends today, is improving states' long-term care strategies to prepare for the nearly 77 million baby boomers who are expected to retire over the next decade.
Some strategies discussed would employ technology to give seniors the ability to "grow old with dignity" while avoiding institutional care.
Protesters outside the meeting said the disabled should be given the same consideration as the elderly. Around two million disabled Americans are presently cared for in nursing homes or other institutions, according to ADAPT.
Everybody in a nursing home is a person with a disability. Otherwise they wouldn't be there, said Barbara Toomer, secretary of the Disabled Rights Action Committee, based in Salt Lake City.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell addressed the protesters and offered to present their resolution at today's meeting.
Rendell said his state is experimenting with health care financing by offering waivers to elderly people for home-based services.
If it's good enough for the non-disabled community, it should be good enough for the disabled community, Rendell told the protesters.
He said the resolution would most likely be tabled for a vote in February, when the governors meet again, but said he felt confident other states would support it because of the cost savings in community-based care.
But in an interview, Utah Gov. Olene Walker, who attended the association meeting, said she isn't sure such savings can be realized.
I hesitate when they say community care is less expensive, said Walker, who nonetheless added that she was open to considering the resolution.
We are willing to look at anything that helps people with disabilities and that works with our budget.
mchandler@sltrib.com
