Quinn’s budget hurts the disabled : May 24, 2011
Chicago Sun-Times : Letters to the Editor :
:I am a mother of three children with disabilities and an advocate for community-based disability services. Even with the current increase in the Illinois income tax, our state is facing a huge budget deficit. The governor’s proposed budget has $76.3 million in cuts for community-based disability services, while investing over $30 million in new money for state institutions. The governor’s proposal also increases the wages of state employees (institutional staff) by 8.25 percent, while cutting the pay of workers in the community by 6 percent.
The citizens of Illinois should be as outraged as are the parents and families of individuals with disabilities. The average cost for a person in a state institution is $192,000 a year, while the cost of supporting an individual in community-based housing is $50,000 a year. Studies prove that community-based programs provide a safer, healthier and more cost-effective way of caring for people with disabilities. Illinois is going to turn away $31.5 million in the 50 percent federal funding match because of the 6 percent cut to all community-based Medicaid-funded services. This will force the closure of many providers who are already struggling to provide quality services with inadequate reimbursement.
The Olmstead Supreme Court decision of 1999 directed all states to develop plans for supporting people with disabilities in their communities. Yet Illinois ranks 47th among all states in its community spending for people with disabilities and also maintains eight state institutions.
More than 220,000 Illinois people with disabilities and their families, such as mine, are frustrated, angry and scared because of the uncertainty that comes with not knowing how we will continue to care for the people we love.
Cathy Bedard, Berwyn
No comments:
Post a Comment