State funding for disabled in dispute
Thousands of families waiting for services
HARRISBURG — A dispute between state legislators and Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration over funding for intellectual disability services has left families caught in the middle.
There are more than 13,000 people statewide on a waiting list for intellectual disability services from the state. What those families are waiting for is technically called a “Medical Assistance home and community-based waiver” — basically the state’s Medicaid program, using a combination of state and federal dollars, paying for care in people’s homes or a small-group setting.
As of July, there were 13,531 people on the waiting list, with 4,613 of those being individuals on the emergency waiting list.
Those who are waiting for services sometimes have to wait years, and it often means family members must quit jobs to care for their loved ones full time.
“These appropriations are critical to the individuals and their families currently living without supports and services that they so desperately need,” said Eileen MacDonald, executive director of The Arc of Delaware County, testifying at a state Capitol hearing Wednesday.
Pennsylvania Department of Human Services officials said they will not be able to fund additional spots to take individuals off the waiting list this year, despite legislators arguing that they specifically appropriated $6.5 million to take 250 people off the waiting list, in addition to 700 graduates from special education programs, with the budget they passed in July.
“Funding was clearly appropriated to address the waiting list,” House Appropriations Chairman Bill Adolph, R-Delaware, said at the hearing, referring to the budget that was agreed to in July by Mr. Wolf and the Republican-
controlled Legislature.
State Department of Human Services Secretary Ted Dallas, at one point choking up while testifying, said the cost of providing care to people currently receiving services has increased, and that last fiscal year’s budget left him with a $21.6 million shortfall for services that had already been provided.
Not being able to provide needed services “is something that breaks my heart, and something that I wish didn't happen,” he said.
In recent years, there have been between 400 and 500 new consolidated waiver slots added in every budget to reduce the number of people on the waiting list.
“A cure-all or a panacea is fully funding what the cost of these services are,” he told legislators.
Kate Giammarise: kgiammarise@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3909 or on Twitter @KateGiammarise.