Please Help Stop the Madness - Florida Sick and Disabled Children Deserve Better

[Guest guest]

Please read this article published in the Tampa Tribune (at the end of this email) about the recent Justice Department move to possibly sue the State of Florida for placing of children with disabilities into nursing homes, rather than fund them to be in their family homes, with proper supports. The quote from the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA)  that " every family is receiving the appropriate level of care for their child " is ridiculous and false. If I didn't know any better, I would think AHCA is holding secret meetings to figure out how to " not " pay for services. AHCA should be ashamed of themselves. Furthermore, they are stating figures from appeals filed and only half were found in favor of the family. They fail to mention that the State legislature changed who is hearing those cases from an impartial Administrative Law Judge, to a Department of Children and Families (DCF) hearing officer. Talk about the fox guarding the hen house. The fair hearing process is anything but. I hope the Federal Government takes action against the state in this matter and stops this pattern of child abuse. 

Also, the Governor refuses to take the Medicaid expansion funds because of politics, pure and simple. The Federal Government would be spending $9.51 for every dollar the State of Florida spends. It will save taxpayers (you and me), not cost us more. For the first two years, the federal government pays for 100 percent of the expansion. Starting in 2017, the states start chipping in, but they will never contribute more than 10 percent of the cost.This is simple math and Governor appears to have forgotten how to use a calculator. Go to the links below and read more about the amount of money that Governor is willing to give up. 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/19/2902803/medicaid-expansion-benefits-floridas.html 

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-07-02/news/fl-scott-inflates-obamacare-cost-20120702_1_medicaid-expansion-medicaid-program-rick-scott 

You should all contact your state legislators http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/  http://www.flsenate.gov/ , the Governor http://www.flgov.com/contact-gov-scott/, AHCA http://ahca.myflorida.com/contact/index.shtml, and the Attorney General's office http://myfloridalegal.com/__85256CC5006DFCC3.nsf/0/A36E3A34A80403FB85256CC600554272?Open & Highlight=0,pam,bondi,email,address  to demand better treatment of our population. The only thing the Attorney General and other state officials cared about in this Federal Government chastising, was that they were not informed ahead of time, so they could do damage control with the media. When is everyone going to wake up and realize that the State is systematically undoing the service structure and level of care for all individuals with disabilities based on " The government cannot afford it " ? We can afford $500.00 a day nursing homes for our kids, but not to fund appropriately in the home at half the cost or less? Maybe I missed something in math class, but their numbers don't add up. 

A Times Editorial

Florida's sick and disabled children deserve better

In Print: Wednesday, September 19, 2012

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Call it official neglect. Florida is accused by the Obama administration and the parents of sick and disabled children of warehousing hundreds of those children in large nursing homes rather than helping them stay home with their families. Disabled children have a right to the support services that would allow them to live safely at home or in community settings. But the state has been fulfilling its duty for some children and not others, leaving it to the courts to set things right for the rest.

Parents have had to file a lawsuit to get the skilled nursing and home health aide help they are entitled to for their children, and in a letter sent to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi this month, legal action is being threatened by the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. An investigation by the Justice Department found that Florida is institutionalizing too many children who could thrive in their own homes.

The investigation found that some children are sent to nursing homes as infants and can spend years in institutions that may be 100 or more miles from home. The average stay for children is over three years, but the department documented some who had been there a decade or longer. Children consigned to these places live in glorified hospital rooms and are bereft of the kinds of interactions that allow for full development. Education is limited, the Justice Department's report says, with some receiving only 45 minutes of educational activities a day.

Meanwhile, the department found numerous cases where home-based help was denied or pared back for no good reason. One " medically fragile " 8-year-old girl had services denied or reduced 13 times since 2006, even as the girl's medical condition remained unchanged.

Florida's Agency for Heath Care Administration rejects the department's findings, saying " every family receives the appropriate level of care for their child. " The agency's figures show that of the approximately 4,500 plans that were reviewed this year, a third had service hours reduced. And of the 365 appeals, the state prevailed almost half the time.

But consider some of the state's recent actions to limit home-based services and expand institutionalization: In 2011, Florida House Republicans blocked the state from receiving $37 million in federal funding that would have helped move children out of nursing homes and back into their own homes. That same year, the state slashed reimbursements 15 percent for service providers to people with developmental disabilities. Lawmakers have blithely watched as the waiting list grows for services for people with developmental disabilities, from under 15,000 in 2005 to more than 21,000 in 2012. Meanwhile, the state pays an enhanced rate of $500 per day per child for nursing home care, more than double what it pays to house the elderly.

Sick and disabled children have a right under the Americans with Disabilities Act to be cared for in the least restrictive setting. More than a decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the overinstitutionalization of people with disabilities is unlawful discrimination under the ADA. If Florida won't abide by the law and stop its shameful practice of shortchanging some families in need, the courts will have to intervene.

[Last modified: Sep 18, 2012 05:27 PM]

Copyright 2012 Tampa Bay Times 

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/floridas-sick-and-disabled-children-deserve-better/1252197

-- Regards,Ven Sequenzia, Jr. 

PresidentAutism Society of AmericaState of Florida Chapter