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My Life, My Choices

The next innovation for people with disabilities

"My Life, My Choices" is a proposal to transform the opportunities for Minnesotans with disabilities by making changes to law and policy in the 2011 session.

We need your voice to help shape important priority-setting conversations for Minnesota. With a growing chorus of support from the community, a pathway to launch the next innovation that will provide better and more satisfying results for people with disabilities and also offer greater government efficiency.

We encourage you to contact your State Representative and Senator to share your hopes for 2011, including "My Life, My Choices" as an inspiring example of how Minnesota can lead.

We believe that "My Life, My Choices" will be the next chapter in services for people with disabilities by:

Seeing people first through their abilities, then seeking targeted services to support unique needs.
Supporting people with disabilities to design their full lives in community with a trusted partner.
Reducing government oversight to improve efficiencies.

What are the chief differences between "My Life, My Choices" and the current system of services?

Imagine that "Jim", a hypothetical person eligible to receive disabilities support through the State, rides his bike, without asking anyone, to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread. He returns home and makes a sandwich.

This shouldn't be a "critical incident" to be reported to the State. It's a joyful outcome for Jim!

How does this new concept work?

Multiple public funding streams are drawn into a single, individual budget.
Dollars are allocated to persons with disabilities and their trusted partners to develop a plan that meets targeted specific needs while reducing government oversight.
Accountability is built in by ensuring that people with disabilities work with a fiscal support entity.

Current funding system compared with "My Life, My Choices":

A person with disabilities is considered unable and vulnerable.
The State pays for 100% protection.
We have a costly system of rules, regulations, reviews, and audits to manage budgets and outcomes.
Primary focus: Maintenance and safety.
Protected living, minimal freedoms.
Dependence.

A person with disabilities is considered able, with different levels of ability.
Jim, his family, and the State share responsibility and risk.
Existing Fiscal Support Entities help Jim account for money spent and Jim reports his outcomes annually.
Primary focus: Growth and life quality.
Normal living, minimal constraints.
Independence and trust.

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What are the benefits to Minnesotans?

The joy of being a neighbor to people with disabilities, instead of seeing people with disabilities isolated from the community and counting on the State taxes to take care of 100% of everything. Tax dollars are stretched farther by:

Creating a marketplace to offer services instead of costly oversight.
Re-setting individual service budgets regularly to reflect variations in need across the lifespan.
Trusting Jim, his trusted partner, and fiscal support entity to manage his budget instead of State provider contracts, rules, and regulations.
Allowing Jim's employment and his family's investments to supplement services.

What is required to make "My Life, My Choices" a reality?

In this proposal, every person with a disabilities waiver in Minnesota is given three years to opt-in to "My Life, My Choices."

Parents, other relatives, or guardians become "trusted partners" to help Jim make choices about services available in the marketplace. Current adult protection and guardianship law is used to regulate their work.
An annual budget allocation for each individual's needs replaces the current "30% off" formula for Consumer-Directed Services.
Statewide contracts with a Fiscal Support Entities to manage these budgets. Free individual choice of Fiscal Support Entity to help him/her manage and account for their budget.
The "unallowables" list is reduced to a minimum to give Jim, his trusted partner, and the Fiscal Support Entity maximum flexibility to tailor services for Jim. New "allowables" include technology substitutes for staff and other non-traditional delivery models (e.g., just-in-time staffing).
An annual statement of all State funds is "encumbered" (or set-aside) on an individual's behalf.
A mechanism for sharing annual budget savings between Jim and the State. Jim's share can be rolled over to supplement his future services.
An electronic "marketplace" is created to make it simpler for Jim and his trusted partner to access and choose services.

Other Requirements:

Require the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to apply for a federal "global waiver" to consolidate disparate pots of service money and apply for the 1915(k) Home and Community Based Services waiver.
Case management administration should be separated from case management service so individuals are free to use their individual budgets to choose either government or private case management services.
Vulnerable adult law and licensing of providers is revised over the next three years to a bias for allowing Jim to take as much risk as all other Minnesotans - not for 100% risk prevention.