Join us today, August 4, for a call-in day to urge the Senate to include funding for home and community-based services (HCBS) in the coronavirus relief bill being negotiated. Even if you’ve called or emailed before, or shared your HCBS story on social media, please contact your Senators again. They need to hear from all of us and they need to hear from us NOW!
HCBS funding is crucial to help people with disabilities and older adults stay safe in their own homes and avoid being forced into dangerous nursing homes and other congregate settings, where there have been extremely high infection and death rates during the pandemic. However, the Senate’s latest coronavirus relief package, the HEALS Act, does not include dedicated HCBS funding so we need to act now to get HCBS funding included in the bill.
The House included dedicated funding for HCBS in the HEROES Act (H.R. 6800), and it is critical that the Senate do the same (with a clarification that all HCBS, including community mental health services, are included).
Email and call-in scripts, along with sample tweets, are available on our call-in day page and you can email and tweet your Senators directly using our portal here. The latest updates are available on our Facebook event. Please RSVP and spread the word! We need you to share your story and encourage others to share their stories with their Senators using the hashtags #HCBS and #WhatWeNeed!
Contact your Senators today! More on our efforts to make sure the needs of the disability community are met during the COVID-19 pandemic can be found on our advocacy page. For more information on HCBS and why dedicated funding is so critical right now, check out our fact sheet.