(CCM) ChoiceCenteredMedicaid.org is Coming Soon

Dorashope.org slated to transition to New National Mandate Website

LOS ANGELES (July 15, 2010) – Soon the choice will be yours. That’s the hope of activist and Dora’s Hope founder Joe Stango. Instrumental in bringing hundreds of Connecticut’s seniors and disabled home from nursing homes, Stango’s new mandate is to change the face of Medicaid in every state in the nation. A new, interactive web site – ChoiceCenteredMedicaid.org – (CCM) will be ready this summer, giving all Americans a platform for supporting the right to choose.

In all states, nursing home care is a Medicaid entitlement, but home care is not in spite of the fact that it’s less expensive, and it’s what most people want.

"Middle class America is unaware that their freedom is threatened because to receive Medicaid services means they can be forced into institutions in order to receive benefits,” says Stango. “It doesn’t matter whether they’re twenty years old or ninety; Medicaid benefits do not ‘follow the person’ and, as a result, do not allow individuals to choose where they live out their lives.”

Distressed when forced to institutionalize his mother Dora, Stango proposed changes in Medicaid policy that would bring her home. He achieved his goal when, six months later in May of 2006, the Connecticut legislature voted overwhelmingly to support the state’s continued move toward choice-centered Medicaid.

“During my quest for choice-centered Medicaid, over 29,000 people supported my efforts by writing or calling me to share their own stories,” says Stango. “I heard from a silent majority who, like me, were frustrated by their inability to help a loved one because of Medicaid’s rationing of ‘freedom’.”

Dora’s Hope advocates for equal treatment of institutional care and home care, allowing consumers to choose where Medicaid services are received. Dorashope.org will soon transition to ChoiceCenteredMedicaid.org (CCM), featuring a petition tool for each state…a place where citizens can get involved in bringing choice-centered Medicaid to their own state. Social media will have a presence on the new CCM site, as well as offer a blog and a news page.

“The decision whether to enter an institution or be cared for at home belongs to all Americans and their families, not the government,” says Stango. “I believe it’s the mission of all good people of faith, of any faith, to work to overcome injustice that splits families apart. This bias must end now to give hope to people who are severely challenged by illness both now and in the future.”

For those interested in becoming involved in making choice-centered Medicaid a reality, go to www.dorashope.org. ChoiceCenteredMedicaid.org –the definitive resource and activism site for Americans who believe that families have the right to choose between a nursing home and being cared for at home – will debut late this summer.

ABOUT DORA’S HOPE / CHOICE-CENTERED MEDICAID (CCM)

Founded in 2009 by Joseph Stango, Dora’s Hope is a grass roots advocacy movement whose objective is to end the government’s bias of forcing middle class Americans into nursing homes. Named for Stango’s mother, Dora’s Hope advocates for equal treatment of institutional and home care, allowing Medicaid-eligible consumers the choice of receiving care in an institution or at home surrounded by loved ones. Stango’s initiative, Money Follows the Person (MFP), passed the legislature unanimously, moving Connecticut a step closer to choice-centered Medicaid. The state has since transitioned hundreds home from nursing homes. In August 2010, Dora’s Hope broadened its horizons, and established a new presence in the world of Medicaid reform and advocacy by launching ChoiceCenteredMedicaid.org. CCM’s mandate is to change the face of Medicaid in America. The organization encourages Americans to embrace choice-centered Medicaid, and allow millions of seniors and disabled Americans to live their lives in freedom.

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Susan Zahn

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