RALLY APRIL 6TH - URGENT!! GOVERNOR CUTS APD 15% - 25% IMMEDIATELY

[Guest guest]

Hello Fellow Advocates,

According to the Miami Herald and other news outlets, Governor Rick is going to cut the APD budget effective immediately, up to 25% to cover deficits. The fact is, the legislature has a process to deal with the budget issues like this. The House currently has funding slated to take care of the deficit. The Senate doesn't have that money in, but that is why they go to conference to decide how to address the problem. For Governor to do this is irresponsible. He can say all he wants about living within our means, but the reality is this population has been cut 20% over the past 3 years and there is no way providers are going to be able to absorb these additional cuts without having devastating effects on the most vulnerable in our society. The cold hard truth is that Governor could care less about your child or adult with a disability. If he did, he would meet with constituents, caregivers, families and providers and would work with the legislature to address the deficit responsibly. He would know that making these cuts is heartless and borders on criminal.

The reality is this, thousands of people who have budgets ranging from $14,000 and up are going to be devastated by this action. How do you tell someone to choose between taking special transportation or the bus to your job or eating dinner tonight? How do you tell someone that they can no longer go to their program, because there is nobody there to provide the services or the services are no longer safe because there is not staff? Where are we going to house the people when their group home is closed due to funding cuts? Will Governor have a bed at his house for them?

In closing, I think it is appropriate that this action is being implemented on April Fool's day.

Could there be a crueler joke?

We will be holding a rally on April 6, 2011 in Tallahassee. Please make every effort to attend. More information to come shortly.

Regards,

Ven Sequenzia

President

Autism Society of America

State of Florida Chapter

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Gov. to call for deep cuts at agency for disabled

A $170 million deficit in the agency that serves the most needy in Florida has left Gov. Rick with a tough call.

BY MARC CAPUTO

TALLAHASSEE -- Due to a shockingly large deficit, Gov. Rick is planning to invoke his emergency powers and make deep cuts to the rates charged by group homes and case workers who help the developmentally disabled.

could announce a 15 percent rate cut as early as Thursday to close the $170 million budget gap in the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, according to lawmakers who were briefed Wednesday.

The deficit — which exceeds the agency’s spending authority by nearly 20 percent — is partly the legacy of lawsuits, poor planning by the Legislature and a nearly $20 million veto by ’s predecessor, Charlie Crist, who starved the program of savings when he refused to trim provider rates last summer.

SYSTEM SHUTDOWN

Those who provide services to the nearly 30,000 Floridians with cerebral palsy, autism and Down Syndrome said they aren’t concerned with the origin of the deficit as much as the effect of deep rate cuts.

“This would be a catastrophe,†said Kingsley Ross, an advocate and lobbyist for Sunrise Community, a Miami-based group home operator.

For the past three years, Ross said, providers have shouldered rate cuts. They’re now operating on the thinnest of margins.

“The system can’t take this,†Ross said. “Eventually, we will have to cut jobs and reduce services.â€

’s spokesman, Burgess, said the governor doesn’t want to harm the developmentally disabled. However, he said the state has put off tough choices for too long and the bill is due.

Burgess said paring the budget now will put the state in a better position to pay future expenses on the neediest. “Yes it’s painful,†Burgess said. “But we’re trying to alleviate the pain long term.â€

Florida has a constitutional requirement for a balanced budget, but federally created Medicaid-related entitlement programs can go into deficit from time to time if the number of recipients increases or costs for needed services rise.

The Legislature estimated that next year the entire state budget will have a $3.75 billion shortfall. So lawmakers are trimming programs.

Troubled by the deficit in the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, ordered an inquiry. The results of the investigation are scheduled to be released Thursday.

RECIPE FOR DISASTER

The Legislature tried to cut the program for the developmentally disabled last year, but Gov. Crist refused. He vetoed a 2.5 percent provider rate reduction.

Meantime, lawmakers didn’t budget enough money for the program to account for the fact that thousands of recipients had sued to block a system of service reductions and cuts to the program.

When times were flush five years ago, legislators expanded the rolls of the Medicaid program by about 5,000 — a move that brought cheers from advocates for the disabled. They had fretted that about 15,000 developmentally-disabled people were on a waiting list but unable to receive services.

But the waiting list has only grown. Medical costs have increased. But state tax collections plummeted and then flat-lined.

Add all those factors together, and the deficit in the $850 million program for the developmentally disabled is about $170 million, according to the Florida House’s proposed budget. The budget proposes to fix this year’s deficit by shifting money from special accounts. But the Senate offers no such solution, leaving Gov. few choices. Neither he nor his fellow Republicans want to raise taxes to fill the deficit.

’s proposal to reduce rates by 15 percent should save about $34 million. The rest of the deficit would be plugged by shifting agency money and reducing the rates of South Florida providers who get slightly higher reimbursements.

Sen. Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who chairs the Senate’s health budget committee, and Rep. Matt Hudson, chairman of the House health budget committee, said they were briefed on the plan and support .

“The governor wants to fix a problem,†Negron said. “And this deficit is a big problem.â€