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For your information and sharing……….

Bob Wessels

Parent

& Advocate

BobWessels@...

From:

Nangle

Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009

6:13 AM

Subject: answers to your questions

Solutions Needed

By:

WaiverProvider.Com

Florida

Supports

Unite

Solutions Needed

By

Nangle

I knew it was time to put my next newsletter

together when I read that Senator Gaetz made the statement, " APD

is unique in that those who receive services are dissatisfied, those

who provide services are dissatisfied and those who pay for the

services are dissatisfied. " (source)

I respectfully disagree. I am also deeply

concerned about future consequences of such thinking at the state

level.

I know many of you are frustrated by the

constant changes and constant cuts. You are sick and tired of across

the board cuts which are made without regard to individual

circumstances. You are worried about how this will affect people who

have disabilities. You are fighting to hold onto a system that has,

in many ways, made it possible for people who have disabilities to

live normal lives in their communities. You are fighting for

something that is very important to you. This is contrary to Gaetz's

blanket term " dissatisfied " .

It greatly concerns me that our Florida

Legislators would even consider making additional cuts to this

program. The consequences of their recent mandates- the tiers and

rebasing- have not even taken affect. And yet, I have learned that

our Florida legislators are now considering an additional 5 percent

(across the board) cut to all providers. It is possible that your

behavior Analyst earning $56.48 per hour can afford this cut, but it

is unlikely your respite worker earning $11.44 can absorb it. Keep in

mind that these are reimbursement rates, not regular wages. Providers

do not get benefits or mileage. They have to pay self employment tax

and other business expenses.

Although they are trying to sell these

provider rate cuts to you as a means of avoiding additional cuts to

your services, you will not have much in the way of services if your

providers can not afford to stay in business.

So many of you have reached out to your

Florida Legislators. I know that most of you are tired of fighting. I

know that you feel powerless. Please continue to fight. Community

based services for people are worth fighting for.

Florida Legislators, this program is

important. We can not afford more cuts. At the very minimum we need

the $50 million dollar increase that The Agency for Persons with

Disabilities has proposed.

Does APD Know How To Reach You?

Wait List People, This Means You!

Does The Agency For Persons With

Disabilities have your correct phone number and address in their data

base? It is EXTREMELY Important that they do, especially if you are

on the wait list.

The Agency For Perons With Disabilities is

currently doing needs assessments for every person on the medicaid

waiver, and in the Spring of 2009, they will also do needs

assessments for people who are on the wait list. If the Agency For

Persons With Disabilities can not contact you, then you are at risk

of being taken off the wait list.

Contact The Agency For Persons With

Disabilities at 1-866-APD-CARES if you are not certain that your

demographic information is correct.

If Your Services Have Been Cut

Some good information from the Advocacy

Center.

Can I do anything if I

received a Final Order Denying Hearing Request?

Yes, you can.

If you appealed APD’s Tier Assignment and you or a family

member received a Final Order Denying Hearing Request, informing you

that your request for a hearing is denied and your case is dismissed,

you have the right to file an Amended Petition.

The Deadline for Filing an

Amended Petition

You must file your amended petition with APD within 10 days of the

“Filed” date stamped on the first page of the Order, plus

5 days APD adds for mailing the Order to you If an Amended Petition

is filed within those 15 days, your services will continue at the

existing level until the final decision on your petition. Filing your

request for a hearing with APD means that APD has to have received

the Request by mail or fax within 15 days of the “Filed”

date stamp.

Where do I send my Amended Petition?

Your hearing request must be mailed or faxed to:

Agency Clerk, Agency for Persons with Disabilities

4030 Esplanade Way, Suite 380

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0950

http://www.advocacycenter.org/news/APD_Denied_Request.html

Special Legislative Session, January 2009

For anyone who may not have heard yet the

Florida legislature is convening a special session 1/5/09 at 11:00

a.m. and ending 1/16/2009. The purpose is to make cuts to the States

current year budget in the amount of 2.3 billion! Keep in mind that

this special session has nothing to do with the regular session in

March where an even larger deficit is said to be looming for the

fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009.

Link to an article in the Miami Herald

regarding special session…

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/florida/story/814522.html

APD agency overview presented to the Florida

Legislature last month…

http://apd.myflorida.com/legislative/docs/house-hhs-committee-12-16-2008.pdf

What can each of us do?

PAY ATTENTION first and then ACT

accordingly. We must make sure that the voices of the people we

support are heard. We must at the least do our best to protect them

where we are able understanding that coming out of this round of cuts

unscathed in not probable.

As much as possible we must speak from a

single platform. Obviously, this has been one of the greatest

challenges and weakness of the current system.

Members of the legislature need our

assistance to understand the impact of their decisions on people with

disabilities from a perspective that is realistic.

What Can You Do?

Get Involved.

http://supportcoordinators.info/floridagovernment.html

Contact

Your Governor. You want to get the governor on your side because

he has the power to veto any state bill, which if passed becomes

state law.

Contact

Your Senator. The Florida Senate represents the people. They

represent more people than the House of Representatives do. It's

important to contact your local senator because they can vote for or

against a bill, which if passed becomes state law. Do you know who

your local senator is? The link above will help you find your local

senator. You can see how they voted on bills that will affect you.

Contact

Your Representative. The House of Representatives represents the

people. They represent a small, local area of people. It's important

to contact your local Representative because they have the power to

vote for or against state bills, which if passed become state law. Do

you know who your local Representative is? The link above will help

you find your local Representative. You can how they voted on bills

that will affect you.

What is a Great Support Coordinator?

A great support coordinator is someone that

understands that you and your family need services year round and

jump through all the hoops- APD, APS, Delmarva, etc. require;

completes an amazing amount of paperwork (which I might add increased

since we now have to fill out paperwork to tell APD what to enter

into the ABC system, that SCs once did in half the time with greater

accuracy, so you have as many of those services that the State can

afford and is willing to give you).

Without your support coordinator, you would

either have to figure out how to do all this yourself or possibly

deal with a State worker with at least twice our caseload and is

employed directly by the very agency mandated to reduce your

services.

A great support coordinator is the one who

despite all the paperwork sitting on his or her desk is there meeting

with you and your family to explain your rights to you, your options

and listens to you discuss what you are going through and losing

and does their best to be supportive when they know when they leave

you, they are going to another family to do the same thing for

them.

Author Unknown (posted on the message

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