Vent: why do budget cuts always target the disabled?

[barkley]

i want to chime in but provide some complaints on the situation and reasoning from a different perspective.

i think one of the factors impacting the budgets in medical programs is directly due to newer provisions in private insurance policies. many policies are now carrying rules wherein if an insured individual can potentialy receive certain items of need by virtue of government or charitable sources they MUST make application to these and these sources must be utilized before the insurer will cover any portion

my dd receives orthopedic services from shriners who will never charge any child/parent for anything received in their physical facilities, however, if something is needed for a patient outside their facilities since there is a cost associated with it-that provider is instructed to bill any available insurance (if it's not available or denied shriner's picks up the tab)-it saves shriner's money so they can go on to serve more kids. well, my insurance company (and i've been advised many others) now carry wording that if shriner's would pay by default in the absence of insurance they will automaticaly deny the claim and leave shriner's or other groups to pick up the tab so overtaxed charitable groups are being further overtaxed by profit mongering private insurance companies.

i see this trend as causing a great budget strain on gov. med programs as well. when i was a supervisor of a gov. medical program unit my staffing (and the budget for it) was based on the number of applicants we averaged and the time it took to grant/deny/carry and manage cases. medical program applications are very time intensive to evaluate-there is so much more consideration to property and income, there can be full family budgets, individual family member budgets-it's a nightmare. if people who have private insurance and don't want gov. assisted are granted or people who have private insurance and know they don't qualify for gov. assisted are required by their insurance companies to at least make application and prove they've been denied the influx of applications and cases would have to make an impact financialy. and i can tell you-when budgeting time in an individual state is near, medical programs are very closely looked to as far as administrative costs. so much of what is offered in individual states is by virtue of their own funding-they may get some matching by the feds, but those states that realy serve their esp. disabled residents are carrying much more of a financial burden.

 

[Schmeck]

barkley, thank you for some important info that really explains why we've had to witness these budget cuts. We also have to remember that as we continue to do research into causes and cures of so many diseases, it's going to make our medical costs skyrocket even more. Research is very, very expensive!

 

[ecki]

A note on research, particularly autism research. I get worried when they look for "genetic markers" for Autism. The only thing genetic research has done for Down syndrome is to allow 90% of people to terminate.

When people say that's fine, too much a drain on society, I have to say:

My child will never rob a bank, embezzle millions from investors, deal drugs, commit premeditated murder, etc. They say 1 in 10 of Americans are in jail. Which costs more?????

 

[Schmeck]

ecki, I know a young man with Down's that has done drugs, and he could become very dangerous some day.

Just saw on one of the news networks that there's a bill (named after a young boy with autism) that would have insurance companies pay up to $50,000 a year for behavior training. Only problem is, isn't that under an educational budget, not a health budget? Also, self-insured won't be covered. If insurance companies are forced to pay for educational costs, isn't that going to increase all of our insurance bills, and some smaller companies won't be able to afford it, so the employees will have to become self-insured, and they won't get that benefit (plus many others).

There has to be some balance here - skyrocketing health care costs are lowering the quality of living for almost everyone - disabled or not - either the federal government has to step in and pay more into it, or the whole system needs to be re-worked before we all become homeless and uninsured. Norway has great health care - but it's a small, socialist government. Canada has universal health care, but I've heard horror stories from my Canadien friends. People should be able to get the services and care they need, and it shouldn't bankrupt them or anyone else. If my cancer comes back, it's going to be near impossible to pay for stuff that's not covered in our stripped down insurance policy.

 

[ecki]

Just saw on one of the news networks that there's a bill (named after a young boy with autism) that would have insurance companies pay up to $50,000 a year for behavior training. Only problem is, isn't that under an educational budget, not a health budget?

I was really surprised that some school districts don't pay for ABA. Ours pays for Kayla's ABA, but only 5 hours. And it's really not ABA, just Discrete Trials. I can understand that they don't want to cover private school tuition for a full autism program -- it's expensive. But we will probably attempt that with Kayla when she reaches Kindergarten since there is no appropriate program within the school district. It's weird, though. She is entitled to a FREE and appropriate public education. But sometimes I wonder if it's "fair" for the burden of my kid to be carried by our very small and low income community. There's 2400 people in our town (not all property owners), 600 kids in the school district (PreK - 12), and of those 150 with IEPs (although I don't know how many of those require special placement). The school district is already sending one child who has Down Syndrome/Autism to a residential placement at taxpayer expense. I just can't see how it's possible with our tax base, even with help from county, state, federal governments. I know that they are not supposed to consider money when considering placement, but of course they have to. We do live in the real world. And they can't keep raising our school taxes, even though I vote for them every time. OK, I'm rambling, it's late.....

 

[Forevryoung]

Ecki, I hear ya. My school district is one of the few that has discrete trial classrooms (they don't call it ABA but it basically is). Depending on the needs of the classroom, the majority of their day may be done learning in a discrete trial format.

I have seen strengths and drawbacks to such an educational environment. Including the lack of generalization. For example, to teach yes/no questions, they teach "yes" first (according to ABA I believe).

In these classrooms, it costs more than $80,000/student (7 students, 1 teacher, 5 paras).

We have the largest autistic population in the area because of our school services. I'm sure tax payers are wondering "where does it end???" because as more parents move into the area because of the school services, taxes will need to increase to keep up OR other services to other students will have to decrease.