Advocates tell Human Services panel H113 needed to set Medicaid payment rates so people can stay at home

Advocates from Vermont Legal Aid told the Human Services Committee that H113, a bill to establish a framework for setting Medicaid payment rates for home- and community-based services, is needed to keep Vermonters who are eligible for such services living safely in their homes.

Kylie Kiper, State Long Term Care Ombudsman at Vermont Legal Aid, said, “I am here in strong support of H113.” She told the committee her office regularly hears from Vermonters who cannot access the services they need to remain at home and said some people end up in long-term care facilities — sometimes out of state — because services are not available or staffed. “We hear from Vermonters every day who are unable to access the services they need to stay in their homes,” Kiper said.

Susan Garcia, staff attorney in Vermont Legal Aid’s Disability Law Project, also testified in support of H113. Garcia said the bill would “create a framework and a process, to determine what are the appropriate and adequate payment amounts for these…