Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Governor Perdue's Response to an Advocate

This letter was sent in response to an advocate's request for support for Unlocking Georgia's waiting lists for disability supports. By the way, we have just heard that the House Health Subcommittees of Appropriation will vote on the FY07 budget on March 2nd - the committee overseeing health will meet at 4pm in Room 341 of the Capitol - click the Calendar of Advocacy Events to the top-right of this entry for more information.

Let us know your reaction to this letter by clicking the comment button at the bottom of this entry...

February 27th

Thank you for making the effort to contact my office regarding Georgia's waiver programs and our ongoing efforts as a state to meet the needs of our citizens. I regret the delay in my response to your message. I understand the difficulties and sacrifices facing many Georgia families. With your personal interest in this issue, I appreciate your offering a unique perspective.
We believe that Governor Perdue is truly committed to community services and should be thanked for this past committment. However, the past does not let us off the hook for today...there are many competing interests and we must stay diligent in our advocacy if we are to be heard...
Every year, developing the state budget is a process of weighing priorities, planning for the future and making difficult decisions. Throughout this process, I am guided by my conviction that support through community services, as well as medical and financial benefits should be available to all disabled residents of Georgia. What we know from listening to citizens is that people with disabilities in Georgia face a variety of challenges when they attempt to live in the community. The State's role is to assist individuals to become as independent as possible and to create opportunities for them to take responsibility for their lives. For this reason I am renewing the state's commitment to principles that will help people with disabilities become integrated into our communities.

The following paragraph is quite frankly confusing...the funding he mentioned for the Amended FY06 budget is simply to continue a commitment they made last year for the 925 MRWP slots - this money will not further reduce Georgia's waiting lists. Several long term advocates at the Capitol marveled at the Governor's budget documents including this mere accounting item, as if the budget was attempting to get credit for this funding twice...

I have included in my Amended Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 budget $3,284,597 to support 925 waiver slots for consumers on the Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities waiting list in the Community Services Adult Program ($2,720,005). For FY 2007, $3,197,417 is allotted for 925 waiver slots for consumers on the Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities waiting list in the Adult Services program ($2,648,987).
His letter goes on to mention the new money going to only 750 new slots - we feel that this falls short of what is needed - namely 1,500 new MRWP slots....also, there was no mention in this letter of the lack of funding for the Independent Care Waiver program - we have asked for 152 new slots - go to our website to see why these numbers are simply not enough by clicking here.
Also, we have allocated $6,358,671 to fund 750 waiver slots for the Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities waiting lists. These budget recommendations, among others, are meant to build upon the foundation of services provided to disabled individuals and are based on best practices that will improve the quality of life for all of Georgia.
I agree...please let our legislators know how you feel by clicking here.
As the Amended FY 2006 and FY 2007 budgets are currently under consideration by the Georgia General Assembly, I encourage you to share your thoughts with your legislators. The General Assembly has the ultimate responsibility in the allocation of our state's resources. Should you need your members' contact information, it is available from your county board of voter registration.
Thank you again for letting me know what matters to you as a concerned citizen of Georgia.

Sincerely,
Governor Sonny Perdue

What do you think? Click COMMENTS to tell us...

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Jason McElwain: basketball player shines...inclusion works

You might have seen it alread, but if you didn't... Jason McElwain, an high school basketball team member with autism in Rochester NY, served as the coach's assistant and spirit leader for several years. On the final game of the season the coach let him finally put on a jersey with the rest of the team.

Watch what happens then...Video-WMP or read more on the story here.
"My first shot was an air ball (missing the hoop), by a lot, then I missed a lay-up," McElwain recalls. "As the first shot went in, and then the second shot, as soon as that went in, I just started to catch fire.""I've had a lot of thrills in coaching," Johnson says. "I've coached a lot of wonderful kids. But I've never experienced such a thrill."


What do you think? Click COMMENTS to tell us...

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Chairman Ben Harbin Listens To the Needs of Augusta Native at Disability Day 2006!


Sue Gaffney, a resident of Evans, joined ranks with more than 1600 other advocates for disability rights in Atlanta for Disability Day 2006 yesterday, and had the opportunity to speak to a state representative who truly understands her requests for more services for people with developmental disabilities.

"Both husband and I attended Disability Day, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were able to talk with Rep. Ben Harbin, as well as Rep. Sue Burmeister, and Senator Jim Whitehead," said Gaffney, who is a 1997 graduate of Partners in Policymaking, a program in self-advocacy training led by the Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities (AADD).

"We have been in touch with Ben for almost 10 years. Our son Matthew is now 27, and has been living in the community for the last seven years. Ben has always been so supportive, saying that Matt and others with significant challenges deserve the right to live and work in the community," said Gaffney.

"We talked with Ben yesterday about the 1500 waiver slots and told him we were worried about funding for only 750; we want the governor to fund the 1500 slots. He said he understood, and that he would do the best he can. We really believe that he will," Gaffney added.

"More than 6,400 people with disabilities are on the waiting list for services right now," said Dave Blanchard, Director of Education and Public Policy for AADD. "If advocates and families are successful in telling their stories, we could gain the 1,500 services we are asking for for Georgians who are in desperate need," Blanchard added.

Rose Mary Bradley's son Michael is one of those individuals waiting for help. His mother traveled to the Capitol for the first time in her life last Thursday because she decided she could no longer wait for others to advocate for her family. Michael, 16 years old, has been denied the Katie Becket waiver and are waiting for their appeal process to be reviewed.

Rose Mary explained that she decided to come to Disability Day this year because of her son, saying, "this was my first time to the Capitol and it really left me wanting to get more involved." Michael is also one of those thousands of people waiting lists for adult services now. "If we dont get help I'm afraid he will regress, no one knows how much," say Rose Mary.

According to state budget figures, Georgia is experiencing an unexpected windfall in revenues. Blanchard said of this, "It is important that Georgians with disabilities be remembered and that as a group, we work for an increase in the 2007 budget that shows that our needs are a priority to the legislators in good times and bad. We need to make sure we use this time to give so the thousands of families waiting hope."

A Strong Presence at Disability Day 2006!


Joining ranks with a total of more than 1,600 other advocates for disability rights, scores of Partners in Policymaking graduates put their expertise in advocating for disability rights to good use at Disability Day 2006 on Thursday, February 23. Early in the morning, they first recieved a last minute briefing on our common legislative agenda from AADD's staff: Dave Blanchard, Rita Young and Linda Allen.

We then headed up to the Capitol and pulled their legislators, asking them to support Unlocking the Waiting Lists for home and community based services. Click here to our message and what you can do help!

After these individual visits and taking part in a powerful rally at the Capitol - we marched to the Freight Depot where we joined a record number of over 1,600 people to eat lunch with other advocates and legislators.

“AADD has worked hard to put family members and self advocates up front, so they can tell their stories directly. This only happens because of our investment in leadership training of self-advocates and parents,” said Rita Young, who manages the Partners in Policymaking Program for AADD.

Dave Blanchard, Director of Education and Public Policy, says our investment from AADD, United Way of Atlanta, and the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities in Partners in Policymaking makes it much easier to reach legislators with the individual stories that make a difference.

“This makes our work easier, because through our trained advocates like Partners graduates, we can mobilize several hundred advocates who know how to talk to legislators and let them know about the needs of people with developmental disabilities,” said Blanchard. “Individually and collectively, we got in front of dozens of legislators to tell them how important it is that Georgians with disabilities are on the waiting list for services that are desperately needed,” he added.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Sixth Week of the Session

CONTINUED COVERAGE ON UNLOCK IN THE FY07 BUDGET
James Salzer wrote two pieces for the AJC covering the Unlock the Waiting Lists! concerns last week: the first entitled "Critics say Perdue education budget hurts old, disabled," published on Feb 14th, and the other published on Feb 18th, entitled "Perdue shifts funds around: Shortfalls reported in programs for elderly, poor." The point made in both articles was that the Governor's proposed FY07 Budget created a shortfall for disability and aging services by only funding new slots for 6 months rather than 12 months. Furthermore, the articles seemed to draw a connection to the priority the budget placed on education "at the expense" of other issues, such as in this statement from article on the 18th:



Critics claim Perdue moved the money to help fund pay raises and $100 gift cards to defray classroom expenses for Georgia's 100,000 teachers, a politically potent force in every election season. Perdue's office dismissed the critics as Democrats who don't have any ideas for improving education.
Regarding disability supports, it seems that Mr. Salzer's articles have missed the point...rather than pitting one issue against another or focusing on how long services are funded during the first year, it is far more important to examine the number of people the budget will support.

Lets examine only the question of lenght of funding...grant it - the Unlock the Waiting Lists! Campaign is advocating for 1,500 new services for the MRWP (the Governor recommended only 750 services) and 152 new slots for the ICWP (the Governor recommended ZERO ICWP slots!). It is important, however, to remember that our bottom line is people helped rather than months funded in the first year. The number of months funded the first year is not as importand because these are long term supports and therefore once these supports begin, they cannot be taken away from these individuals. The MRWP is funded by individual services such as respite, family support or day support. If we fund 1,500 MRWP services, a person may need more than one of these services; therefore the impact will be that approximately 1,300 people will recieve help. As for the ICWP, these slots are wrap around services and therefore 152 slots will go to 152 people.

Salzer's articles raises concerns that the Governor has recommended only 6 months of funding for 750 services - enough services to take around 600 people off the waiting lists. Is this enough? No and No...We need 1,500 services to keep pace with the growth of the waiting lists and these services should be funded for at least 9 months. Why not 12 months, you ask? If the services are funded for 12 months the first year, the state would experience extra money during that first year. This extra money comes from the fact that if 1,500 services are funded, it is an impossibility for all 1,500 services to be assigned on July 1st or the first day of the state's fiscal year. It will take at least 3 months to match these new services to the most in need - so for the first year, allowing for a natural phase in of these services, the Department of Human Resources will only need 9 months of funding.

Salzer's articles only focused on the length of funding for services, rather than the number of people helped...

I wrote a Letter to the Editor in response to the by Salzer on Feb 14th:


James Salzer’s February 14th article "Critics say Perdue education budget hurts old, disabled" brought much needed attention to the lack of adequate funding in the State budget to address the needs of more than 6,400 people with disabilities who are currently waiting for desperately needed services. We appreciate the commitment of House and Senate budget writers to consider allocating 1,500 new supports for Georgians' with cognitive disabilities and to fund 152 new slots for people with physical disabilities under the Independent Care Waiver Program.

Disability advocates have worked long and hard for this kind of attention and concern. Of late we have new hope because of the support coming from all legislators, without regard to party lines. Helping families struggling to secure needed services offers an opportunity for truly good governance. A vast majority of Georgians believe that we have a clear responsibility to help our most vulnerable families who are in many cases hanging by a thread.

We have enjoyed support from all of these legislators because everyone understands that disability does not choose families by their politics. The solution to this challenge will best come from legislators who set politics aside, and affirm a bipartisan commitment to seek the best for all of us.

We are making progress in our work, legislators from both parties are beginning to understand how important these issues are to everyday people...please help us continue advocating for them to the right thing by going to our Action Alert webpage!

WRAPPING UP THE FY06 BUDGET
The week of February 13th, the sixth week of the session, ended on Thursday with the day 20 in a 40 day long session. The Senate passed their version of the FY2006 supplemental budget with two important changes that will affect adults and children with disabilities. The Senate and House will meet on Monday to work out their differences, and then begin work on the FY2007 budget.

CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES ARE REMEMBERED IN FY06 BUDGET
Three Democratics, Regina Thomas, Ollisteen Miles and David Adelman introduced an amendment to add $3.6 million to continue to pay health costs for more than 1,600 disabled and medically needy children no longer eligible for Medicaid benefits because their families earn too much. This was a very bipartisan effort as evident in the Savannah Now or the Access North Georgia:


Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, D-Albany, said continued coverage was needed because the costs of care for families _ even those with private insurance was "staggering." The price tag for the state is $3.6 million. "I thought you saw a pretty good bipartisan process today," Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Hill, R-Reidsville, said after the vote.

According to Patty Guthrie's article today entitled "Restoration of kids' Medicaid funds up in air," this money is a great step, but families with children with disabilities are not out of the woods yet. There are still questions about whether children with autism or cancer will be eligible when they reapply. Also, this is money for the current year, it is unclear whether it will be a short term fix only for this year. And even if all of the families concerns are met, it will be weeks before the details are worked out.

ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES ARE REMEMBERED IN FY06 BUDGET
Another victory for people with disabilities was the work done quietly and humbly by Senator Greg Goggans in the Senate to place 10 new slots for the Independent Care Waiver in the FY06 budget. This funding was Senator Goggan's idea and we hope is symbolic of his ongoing support to our issue; however, the most important point is that 10 people who desparately need support will be given that help starting April 2006.

SURVEYS
We were very lucky to have had six volunteers help us continue surveying legislators on their positions - with the new total reaching 71 responses - all of which can be found by going to our Unlock website. We still need your help with this project! If you are able to spend at least 2 hours at the Capitol any time between Monday and Thursday - let us know by sending us an email.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Fifth Week of the Session

This week the House continued to work on the FY07 budget while the Senate finished their work on the FY06 amended budget. Our focus continues to be on the FY07 budget, spending the week meeting with leadership from both the House and Senate and presenting recommendations for funding the 1,500 for 9 months for MRWP slots and 152 ICWP slots.

On Wednesday the 8th, the House Health subcommittee met to receive briefings from the Department of Community Health and other departments on the FY07 budget. Rep. Manning and Rep. Burmeister both voiced concern that there were no ICWP slots in this budget.

Thank you for continuing to send us the responses you are getting back from legislators. Here is one from a very important allies...

February 14th

"Thanks so much and I will work on your concerns."

Representative James Mills, House District 25

February 10th
"Thanks you, I will continue to work to help people like your daughter. The problem with the Gov.'s budget it only places 750 slots instead of the 1500 we put in last budget . He is also only funding it at 6 mo. We are fighting to change this to annual and go back to the 1500 slots." Thanks,

Representative Jay Shaw, District 176

February 7th

"Good to hear from you! WE are working on increasing the number of slots in both categories. I met with the state advocates yesterday and we are going to work with the House to increase the number.

Thanks for getting in touch."

Senator Jack Hill, District 4

February 12th

"I apologize for taking this long in respond to your e-mail. I've been waiting, hoping to have some good news. As of right now we have a commitment for 750 slots to be put in the 07 budget. We are just beginning to work on that budget so we will be working to increase the 750."

Representative Ellis Black, House District 174

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Background for 1,500 from DHR

When DHR sent Governor Perdue their recommendation for 1,500 new slots for the MRWP in the fall of 2005, they sent him justification as to why these slots were needed. The following is in their own words:

"Currently there are over 6,000 Georgians with MR/DD who are waiting for community services due to a lack of funding for services. Additionally, there are 17,118 Georgians with mental retardation living with caregivers 60 years old or older (Braddock 2004).

Each year, approximately 700 children with MR/DD exit the Department of Education’s special education programs. But due to a lack of funding for community MR/DD services, most of these young adults remain at home while receiving no services. In many cases, this creates a crisis for parents who must work and cannot stay at home and care for their family member with disabilities. Too often, lack of day services leads families to demand more expensive out-of-home residential services for their sons and/or daughters.

Currently, there are approximately 1,100 consumers with MR/DD living in Georgia’s state operated DD institutions. MHDDAD has identified 54 children and adolescents with MR/DD currently living in state hospitals (Intermediate Care Facilities/MR and Skilled Nursing Facilities) whose needs could be best met in community settings that would allow for them to be closer to families and their home communities. Also, there are 19 children and adolescents with mental health and DD diagnoses currently served in a program at Northwest Regional Hospital in Rome and funded with state dollars. These children would benefit from community placements.

The Clinical Team at Central State Hospital has recommended that the Allen Building be closed and that 135 CSH residents be transitioned to more appropriate services in community settings. The number of people with DD served in Georgia’s community DD system has increased substantially since the late 90’s. However, the system’s infrastructure has not experienced a corresponding expansion. The DD system is stretched very thin in terms of its capacity to oversee and monitor the quality and safety of services, to develop new providers, to increase the capacity of
current providers to meet the needs of an increasingly complex consumer population, and to manage the Medicaid Waiver program with has doubled in size over the last five years."


DHR goes on to explain the impact that their recommendation of 1,500 for Georgia...

"This enhancement will provide funding for 1,500 new MR/DD Medicaid Waiver slots. This will allow for increased day and employment services to be made available for young adults exiting DOE’s special education programs; and, at the same time supporting families to continue working while keeping their children at home. Also, additional day services and employment for consumers currently on the waiting list will provide relief for aging caregivers and income for consumers with DD thus making them more independent and self-sufficient.

Natural Support Enhancement Services will support families in maintaining their loved ones with disabilities in their homes. Enhancement funding will provide residential services for consumers on the waiting lists whose families can no longer care for them. 208 children and adults now living in Georgia’s state institutions will get the support they need to return to their communities. This enhancement will provide the opportunity for Georgia to move forward in implementing its Olmstead plan, and move towards joining nine other states that do not have the taxpayer expense of state-staffed institutions for the developmentally disabled.

Due to a very high percentage of federal Medicaid dollars in state-operated hospitals, state funding for this request cannot be re-directed from hospitals to match new federal Medicaid Waiver dollars for community expansion. Also, as a result of earlier revenue maximization efforts, state dollars are inadequate in the community DD system to be used as state match to significantly expand community services.

This enhancement will address system capacity issues by providing funding for enhanced service monitoring and oversight, safer and higher quality services through training and technical assistance for providers, funding to serve consumers with complex medical and behavioral challenges, funding for consumers’ medication not covered by Medicaid and additional staff to manage the Medicaid Waiver programs.

Georgia ranks last among all states in the utilization of community residential settings for persons with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. A person with developmental disabilities living in South Carolina is twice as likely to be living in his or her own community residence (D. Braddock 2004, State of the States in Developmental Disabilities, AAMR).

The following is a detail of historical funding in Georgia’s community DD services. Funds represented include state grant in aid, Medicaid Waiver and SSBG funds. The detail indicates a trend of decreasing state dollars and increased use of the federal Medicaid Waiver dollars. As indicated, the FY06 improvement represents an increase in funding that will benefit approximately 9,000 consumers currently served on the Waivers through a rate increase, and provide services to 925 individuals waiting for services.

FY 2002- Total Funds $182,882,855 - New MRWP Slots 725
FY 2003- Total Funds $183,539,829 - New MRWP Slots 507
FY 2004- Total Funds $180,484,771 - New MRWP Slots 230
FY 2005- Total Funds $179,887,438 - New MRWP Slots 30
FY 2006- Total Funds $204,643,559 - New MRWP Slots 925"

They stated that this "enhancement will create the opportunity to address continued and new litigation for non-compliance with U.S. Supreme Court decision in Georgia’s Olmstead v. L.C. decision."

Strong case for moving forward with 1,500 new MRWP slots...

What do you think? Click COMMENTS to tell us...

Friday, February 03, 2006

Fourth Week of the Session

WRAPPING UP THE FY06 BUDGET
The week of January 30th, the fourth week of the session, ended on Friday with day 13 in a 40 day long session. The House passed the FY2006 supplemental budget without debate. From Brandon Larrebee with the Athens Banner Herald:
A slate of midyear revisions to the $17.9 billion state spending plan sailed through the House on Friday, passing 159-1 with no debate...It also took out funding that would have backed the governor's Medicaid modernization initiative, which was postponed. Advocates had warned that the plan could affect the quality of health care the joint federal-state program provides to low-income Georgians. "We will make sure that this body has some input into that," Harbin said. The House also ordered the state Department of Community Health to again cover some dental benefits the agency had slashed for PeachCare patients last year. PeachCare is the joint federal and state health care program for children whose family income is too high to qualify for Medicaid but not high enough to pay for private insurance...
The FY06 now moves to the Senate for consideration...
Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Hill, R-Reidsville, said he hadn't yet gotten a chance to review all of the House's recommended changes. He said he didn't expect a significant fight over the midyear budget in the Senate, either. "It's not a whole lot of big decisions," he said.
SURVEYS
We were very lucky to have had nine volunteers help us continue surveying legislators on their positions - with the total reaching 52 responses - all of which can be found by going to our Unlock website. We need your help with this project! If you are able to spend at least 2 hours at the Capitol any time between Monday and Thursday - let us know by sending us a email.

HEARINGS & MEETINGS
The Senate Human Development subcommittee met on Monday, receiving briefings from the Departments of Labor, Veteran Services and Human Resources. Interestingly, Commissioner Thurmond presented that his Department was "forced by the process" to make $116,000 in cuts to disability programs and was recommending to both the House and Senate to restore this money to the FY07 Budget.

This Senate hearing was held before the House finished their work on the FY07 budget, with another meeting held by the Senate Community Health Subcommittee of Appropriations taking public testimony at the same time as the House's Health Subcommittee on Appropriations, prompting Rep. Jeff Brown to remind the audience of his hearings that the "House is where the budget begins" and that his "committee works as an independent body" in developing the FY07 budget.

These overlapping meetings meant that we worked to get a presence and testimony presented at both meetings. In total, Unlock had seven people speak in support of unlocking either the MRWP or ICWP waiting lists for disability supports!

The week ended with a meeting initiated by an advocate and mom, Penny, with Speaker Glenn Richardson. Penny had called us before the session began wanting to know how she could help. After looking up her home address, we suggested that they attempt to do what we have not been able to do in the last 8 months! An example of where the strength of Unlock truly lies - in the passion of self-advocates and their families. Speaker Richardson committed to championing the proposal of Unlock slots that were sent to him by the Chairman of Appropriations, Rep. Ben Harbin.

We have our work cut out for us and will need your help!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Kentucky settles suit over Waiting Lists for Disability Supports

In Kentucky last week the state settled a lawsuit filed by a family waiting for help for medicaid supports for an additional $182 million more over the next two years to continue to expand services by seeking increased state funding. Governor Ernie Fletcher had already funded $45 million for the next two years as part of his proposed budget. Kentucky's Medicaid program spends about $280 million a year to aid people with mental retardation or developmental disabilities. That is planned to rise to $485 million by 2010.

Georgia's waiting lists have reached 6,400 people today, with over $200 million currently going to home and community based services. Last year Governor Perdue funded 925 waivers slots to reduce our waiting lists and has proposed only 750 slots within his budget this year.

To read more about the settlement in Kentucky go to State settles suit over Medicaid