WV Waiver Changes

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July 20, 2006 Disabled people protest They fear changes in waiver program By FinnStaff writer More than 100 disabled people, family members and advocates expressed their fears about changes in a state program at a meeting in ton Wednesday. They were concerned about possible cuts to services that keep more than 3,800 disabled West Virginians in their homes. The conference room at the Bureau of Senior Services couldn’t hold the entire group, so about 30 people were forced to wait outside. “Don’t balance the budget on our backs,” read a sign with

pictures of disabled children held by one parent. State officials said the waiver program, known as the MR/DD program, was not being cut, despite the fears of some clients and family members. “We truly want the person to get the services they clinically need. We don’t want them to get services they don’t need,” said Pat Winston of the Bureau for Medical Services, which runs the state Medicaid program. Until now, a team of family members, medical providers and the disabled person determined which services were needed to keep someone out of an institution, like a nursing home. On July 1, that changed. Now, every waiver client will receive a fixed budget to spend during the year. The state recently contracted with a private company, APS Healthcare, to evaluate waiver participants to determine which services they should receive. Winston said the first year’s budget for each participant will be based on what he or she received the year before.

After that, it will be set based on the results of APS interviews with the recipient and three people who know the recipient well. Some parents and waiver clients at the meeting said they receive some services they do not need. They also said they don’t get enough of some services, like respite care, which allows families time to take a break from the 24-hour job of caring for someone with a major disability. The problem is that the state has an all-or-nothing system for people in the waiver program, said , a burg disabilities advocate whose son, Josh, is in the program. If they say they don’t need 24-hour care, said, they are told they might not be able to remain in the program at all. Parents of disabled children also expressed concern about another rule change, one that would require them to receive prior approval from APS for transportation charges over 700 miles a year. Twylla Bays of Tornado said her disabled daughter,

Cassandra, depends on the mileage money to make it to doctor’s visits as far away as Cincinnati, as well as socializing with her friends. “If she can’t go to the movies or meet her friends at the mall, she’ll have nothing in her life to look forward to,” Bays said. Another problem, said, is that West Virginia makes it harder for people to qualify for the program than any other state. State officials recently published a new manual that sets “three standard deviations” as the standard for qualifying for the program. That means a disabled person must have an intelligence score that is much farther from the norm than most states, which use two standard deviations as their guide. Huffman of Walton said he is afraid he will have to move back in with his elderly mother because of that criterion. Huffman has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. “Why take my freedom away because I am too intelligent? Please don’t take my freedom away,” Huffman

said. Winston said the three standard deviations rule has been in effect for 18 months and has helped reduce the state’s waiting list for the waiver program to about 200. The state is under a federal court order to keep the waiting list at a reasonable level. It is too soon to know whether families in the waiver program will see necessary services reduced. says the state’s recent track record is not good. When APS began overseeing mental health spending in 2001, the state’s mental health centers lost about one-third of their funding within two years. In that same time period, commitments to the state mental institutions jumped by 50 percent and mentally ill people flooded the state’s jails, homeless shelters and hospitals. Also, the Manchin administration has cut hundreds of people off a similar program, the Aged and Disabled Wavier for elderly people, he said. Hopkins of Mount Alto asked taxpayers to remember

that they could find themselves in her position someday. She takes care of a 23-year-old disabled son.“It could happen to you today. You could have a car accident on the way home,” she said. She said it has been hard taking care of her son, but she wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. “These children are not a curse. They are a blessing from God,” she said. To contact staff writer Finn, use e-mail or call 357-4323.

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