Urgent Call to Action! Contact Senate President Mike Haridopolosb

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CONTACT

Senate President Mike Haridopolos

Today!

Ask him to: "Adopt Representative's Hudson plan to cover the APD deficit in the House Budget"

The House budget covers this year’s APD deficit. The Senate version does not, but Senate President Mike Haridopolos has indicated a willingness to consider adding funds to cover the APD deficit in the Senate’s budget proposal. Please Call, Email, and Fax Senate President Mike Haridopolos,ask him to: "Adopt Representative's Hudson plan to cover the APD deficit in the House Budget" . Let him know what the budget cuts mean to you.

Senator Mike Haridopolos

haridopolos.mike.web@...

Fax

District Office:

3270 Suntree Boulevard, Suite 122Melbourne, FL 32940

Melbourne Legislative Assistants:

Becky Bauer, Bernier and Bonnie Ballard

Tallahassee Office:

Tallahassee Legislative Assistant:

Rivers Buford III

BACKGROUND

: I'll cancel cuts to disabilities services, But lawmakers will have to find $174M patch

April 13, 2011 CAPITOL NEWS By Bill Cotterell

Gov. Rick said Tuesday he will cancel massive cuts in the Agency for Persons with Disabilities if legislators come up with a $174-million budget patch.

Since 's across-the-board cuts March 31, hundreds of Floridians with disabilities have been searching for new caregivers while companies that serve them are reducing staff and services.

Hopefully, we'll see if the Legislature will give us some emergency funding. But we have to live within our means," told about 100 APD employees after a tour of their agency.

APD spokeswoman Etters said 39 providers have given 30-day notice that they will stop some services and "very few" have said they will withdraw completely from the Medicaid waiver program that provides in-home and community-based care for people with spina bifida, Down syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, cerebral palsy and other disabilities.

"At this time, an estimate is that this will require about 500 individuals statewide to select new providers," she said.

More than 30,000 Floridians get help under the Medicaid-waiver program. A statewide advocacy group said the numbers will surely rise.

"It's extremely promising to see the headline today, but relief cannot come soon enough," said Sylvia , legislative and public affairs director for Disability Rights Florida Inc. "This is very stressful on families, individuals and, frankly, the small businesses that are in the provider community."

ordered a 15-percent reduction in state payments to providers who care for those with developmental disabilities and other handicapped Floridians. Advocates for providers and clients say the impact of the 90-day order will be up to 30 percent or more because companies providing attendants to people with disabilities also lost allowances for many administrative services.

House and Senate budget negotiators are working on compromises for the 2011-12 appropriations act. The House moved to cover the shortfall but the Senate version of the budget doesn't include it. Senate President Mike Haridopolos last week said he's willing to move toward the House language on that item.

Since the governor issued his emergency order on March 31, 's organization has collected data from across the state on how individual providers and companies are coping. She said there are widespread reports of layoffs, pay cuts, reduction of some full-time staff to part time, cuts in mileage reimbursement, less "face time" with clients and an end of "respite time" that gives families a break.

said some providers who were unsure how to handle the cut two weeks ago are "becoming more concrete" now in their decisions.

"They're going to become more dire and more concrete every day," she said. "It's important that community services are an alternative to institutionalization. When they quit providing them, the risk of institutionalization becomes much greater — and institutionalization is not only more expensive but often less helpful for the person."

The governor said he has notified the Legislature of the $174-million shortage, which has been snowballing since about 2005. The agency serves about 35,000 people, roughly 30,000 of them through the Medicaid waiver program that was reduced by 's order.

said he could "withdraw the executive order" and restore full payment to service providers, if the Legislature covers the funding gap. But he said he doesn't want it to happen again in future fiscal budgets.

"We've got to make sure this doesn't continue," said . "We've got to come up with a funding mechanism and a management team that's going to make sure we take care of this very vulnerable group of people but also make sure we live within our means."

http://floridacapitalnews.com/article/20110413/CAPITOLNEWS/104130319