Advocacy

MACSP lends a collective voice and advocates on public policy matters to help our members build and sustain quality services for thousands of Mainers with Intellectual Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, or Acquired Brain Injuries.

Throughout the year we

• Facilitate relationship-building between providers and state policy-makers
• Review and provide updates on administrative policy matters including proposed MaineCare rule changes as well as service waiver renewals and amendments
• Track and analyze hundreds of bills and testify on legislation that impacts our community
• Organize providers, their workforce, and the people they serve to identify concerns, connect with their legislators, and submit testimony on bills before the State Legislature or rules considered by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Public Policy Priorities

Support the HCBS Workforce to Ensure Quality Services MaineCare

An overwhelming majority of MACSP members agree: maintaining a strong commitment to establishing a sustainable MaineCare reimbursement rate system is critical. Any loss of funding would have a serious negative impact on provider organizations, their employees, and would further intensify the financial strain they are already facing.

COLA increases have helped stabilize services, but providers face challenges offering competitive wages, the leading cause of workforce loss. The rising costs of health insurance, workers’ compensation, and program expenses further strain budgets. These long-standing issues, coupled with the recent January 1 COLA suspension, and the plans to suspend rate adjustments from long-awaited rate determinations in the proposed biennial budget, continue to erode support for the HCBS workforce.

Our Workforce

To truly increase access to quality care and support in Maine, we must begin by honoring the dignity of both the people who receive care and those who provide it. This means changing how we value direct care workers—recognizing their skill, dedication, and humanity—while also confronting the biases that too often devalue the lives of older adults, people with disabilities, and individuals with behavioral health needs.

No one is defined by their age, diagnosis, or need for care. When we commit to valuing every person, we create a culture that uplifts and respects every worker.

Our member organizations employ an estimated 9000 direct support staff known as DSPs (Direct Support Professionals), delivering a diverse set of services and supports to more than 5000 adults and 2000 children with disabilities through MaineCare Sections 13, 18, 20, 21, 28, 29, 50, 65, 92-children, 97 (Appendix F) and 102.

Access to Services

Providers report striving to just meet basic health and safety requirements when they want to provide fully integrated and robust person-centered services, beyond the minimum standard. More than 90% of MACSP member organizations have turned away or stopped accepting new referrals or discontinued programs, or service offerings due to insufficient staffing (Member Survey September 2024)

Helpful Links

Maine Legislature Homepage: http://legislature.maine.gov/

• Find your State Representative: https://legislature.maine.gov/house/house/MemberProfiles
• Find your State Senator: https://legislature.maine.gov/senate-home-page/find-your-state-senator

Sign up to Testify and/or submit testimony here: https://www.mainelegislature.org/testimony/

• Click on Public Hearing, then choose the Committee and then the date of the hearing.  
• Choose the LD# you are looking for. 
• If you intend to provide live testimony please be sure to check the box that says “I would like to present my testimony live” to facilitate receiving the link to join the Zoom Webinar.
• You can upload a file or type your testimony in the open box.  Once you have provided the rest of the requested information you will check the box next to “I’m not a robot” and finally click the Submit/Register button

Testifying in Person

• Check the committee for sign up times. If you missed sign up, let the clerk know. Many chairs will allow you to testify last – after those who signed up have gone
• If you intend to testify in-person in the committee room, you are not required to register online or upload written testimony
• If you have written testimony when you testify in-person, bring 20 copies. If your testimony is part of the budget hearings, bring 40 copies.