Monday Morning Update from JCDS
Your Monday Morning Update:
Picture this-
It’s a brisk Sunday morning and you awaken to the smell of fragrant homemade blueberry muffins. You jump out of bed anticipating the warm melt-in-your-mouth delight. You run to the kitchen, take look, steal another sniff and your mouth begins to water…
You reach for a fragrant, steamy muffin, but your hand is slapped and you are told that the recipe says that they can’t be consumed until January.
Why am I telling you this? It’s exactly what is happening with waiting list dollars allocated by the Legislature at the end of this legislative session. The Governor announced that with the savings from KanCare, there was money that would go to the waiting lists. The Intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) waiting list is scheduled to receive more than $9 million. The folks near the top of the list (some waiting more than six years) can just taste it.
This past year has shown us that nothing is easy. Remember the Crum proviso that was added to the budget bill? This was the proviso that pitted brother against brother and muffin against muffin. This proviso stated that if I/DD waiver services are not provided under KanCare on January 1, 2014, then the I/DD waiver would not receive waiting list dollars.
Since I/DD was NOT carved out, we assumed the proviso was nullified. But, there is a strange little twist to this story. The State feels that they are obligated to hold on to those dollars, just in case I/DD waiver services don’t start under KanCare in January.
So tell me where my thinking has gone awry:
I/DD waiver services and supports is included in KanCare in January 2014 (I’m still sore about this by the way.)
The legislature has allocated over $9 million for the waiting list.
The State’s fiscal year began July 1, 2013.
It is now August and the waiting list continues to grow.
The money should be available for release!
InterHab, Community Development Disability Organizations (CDDO), providers, and families are asking the Governor to intervene and direct his office to release the waiting list dollars. If the Crum proviso is indeed ironclad, and the Governor feels that he can do nothing to overturn this decision, then we may be asking the legislature to support a simple legislation to resolve this matter when they return in September for a special session.
If you have missed writing or calling your Legislator, now would be a good time to catch up! I’m sure they have missed hearing from you! Let them know that individuals have been waiting for more than six years and asking them to wait another six months is disgraceful. The money is there and CDDO’s and providers have been working with the State and Managed Care Organizations in preparation for a January start date.
I’m sure there may be a few legislators that think “what’s the big deal, it’s only until January.”
The muffins will be hard. We think families deserve them while they are hot.
Warm regards,
Lurena Mead
JCDS Community Relations Manager
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