Guest guest Posted March 21, 2010 Report Share Posted March 21, 2010 Please find three items that will affect many children and adults on the autism spectrum. Calls need to be made tomorrow, if possible. Emails are okay too. Please read the 3 items (A,B,C) below before making calls. We need people to contact the legislators below and ask them to address these cuts. The legislators on the HHS committee are key and then the leadership listed below them. Regards, Ven Sequenzia President Autism Society of America State of Florida Chapter A. Med Waiver cuts to the Tier 1 cap to $120,000.00. This will be devastating. There are many who have higher cost plans than this. One provider alone informed me that 90 of thier clients are above this figure. Many with autism are among these affected. These are the most severe and need the most care. There will be nowhere for them to go. The state is closing the institutions, so are they to be left homeless? Action item: There needs to be a provision to have an exemption from the cap if the client has higher needs. Maybe a higher cap of $150,000.00 - $180,000.00. B. Behavior Assistance Services removed $2,000,000.00. APD stated these are duplicative and can be provided by the group homes. This is inaccurate. Certified Behavior Assistants provide this service. You cannot train the group home staff to provide these services. Also, this service allows someone with difficult behaviors to reside in a less restrictive environment and they fade back services over time. Removing this service will cause more individuals to not be able to reside in the lease restrictive environment and may cause some to end up in institutions. Action item: This money needs to be reinstated. Cutting these services will be devastating. C. Moving hearings from DOAH (Dept. of Administrative Hearings) to DCF will be a big mistake. Prior to the current situation with DOAH providing hearings, DCF was doing it and a family almost never prevailed. Also, the current situation allows the client to retain the current level of services if appealed. Reverting back to DCF will undo that and people will lose services immediately. Action item: Need to reverse this and put hearings back in DOAH. I went ahead and forwarded the info from before that has the Senate folks to contact. If we can at least have a difference in the amounts from House to Senate side, then we can work on it during conference to try to get it changed. Regards, Ven Sequenzia President Autism Society of America State of Florida Chapter Action Alert 3 Action Alert 3 – Appropriations By Kingsley Ross The Senate Chairman of the Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee recommended drastic reductions in Home and Community Based Waiver services Thursday. He also recommended severe cuts in the Intermediate Care Facilities for the Developmentally Disabled (ICF/DD) Program. These recommendations will be finalized during the week of March 15th. There is an opportunity to restore the cuts if an enhanced federal match becomes available through pending Congressional action. Background: On Thursday March 11, the Senate Appropriations committee that oversees the budget for services to people with developmental disabilities (DD) reviewed the chairman’s (Sen. Durell Peaden) recommendations for budget cuts. Senate HHS Cuts for people with DD $ Amount (in Millions) 1. Cap services in Tier 1 to $120,000 6.3 2. Eliminate behavior assistance services in standard & behaviorally focused group homes 2.0 Reduce provider rates by 10% 70.1 Reduce caps for Tiers 2,3, & 4 by 10% 11.2 Reduce ICF/DD rates by 7% 13.9 If not restored, these cuts will result in drastic reductions in services available to consumers. They will affect everyone that the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) serves through its Medicaid waivers as well as everyone served in the ICF/DD program administered through the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). By adding a cap to Tier 1 and reducing the caps on the remaining Tiers, the recommendations make a very bad Tier system worse. They also threaten the entire provider network supporting individuals with disabilities. Many providers will have to stop providing some services and others may go out of business altogether. There is a possible solution. Congress is about to pass an enhanced federal Medicaid match (called FMAP) that will give Florida additional revenue which could be used to restore the recommended cuts to services for people with disabilities. However, there is no guarantee that the Florida Legislators will use it for this purpose. Legislators have the option to use the FMAP dollars for different needs, despite the fact it is earned by providing services to people like those with DD. The House will be releasing its recommendations over the next several days and cuts are also likely to be recommended Action Needed Contact your own Senator plus those listed below and tell them (in your own words) why the cuts recommended by the Senate will be devastating. Thank legislators for helping us in the past and ask legislators to restore the cuts and to use the enhanced Medicaid match when Congress makes it available. .. Senators – Health & Human Services Appropriations Committee First Name Last Name District City District Phone Tallahassee Phone Email Address Don Gaetz Destin gaetz.don.web@... Mike Haridopolos Melbourne haridopolos.mike.web@... Joe Negron Palm City negron.joe.web@... Durell Peaden, Jr. Crestview peaden.durell.web@... Nan Rich Sunrise rich.nan.web@... Eleanor Sobel Hollywood sobel.eleanor.web@... Senate Leaders First Name Last Name Position District City District Phone Local Phone Email Address JD Ways & Means Chair Lake Wales alexander.jd.web@... Jeff Atwater President N Palm Beach atwater.jeff.web@... de la Portilla Maj. Leader Miami portilla.alex.web@... Mike Fasano President Pro Tem New Port Richey fasano.mike.web@... Arthenia Joyner Minority Whip Tampa joyner.arthenia.web@... Alfred 'Al' Lawson Jr. Minority Leader Tallahassee lawson.alfred.web@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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