Disabled in need

Services for thousands denied with funding gap

Too often, the legislative and executive branches of state government are at partisan loggerheads. In the case of funding for intellectual disability services, however, the parties simply aren’t on the same page. As a result, some of the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians will suffer.

Some House members insisted that they put enough money in the 2016-17 budget to take 250 people off the waiting list for home- and community-based services. In all about 13,500 are on the list, and removing 250 would be little more than a token improvement in any event.

However, the Department of Human Services says there isn’t money to take anybody off the list this fiscal year. The costs of care have gone up so dramatically, an emotional department Secretary Ted Dallas said at a hearing Wednesday, that he’s all but searching the couch cushions for enough money to maintain services for those already receiving them. He came up $21.6 million short last fiscal year.

It is difficult to understand how the state’s right hand can fail to know how, or what, the left is doing. Be that as it may, the state cannot afford to halt, even for one year, the already-slow process of whittling down the waiting list. The legislative and executive branches should come up with stopgap funding for the current fiscal year and better plan for the 2017-18 budget.

The state’s treatment of residents with intellectual disabilities already was under fire — from those already receiving services. In January, the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania sued the department, demanding that it expand access to residential programs. It filed the suit on behalf of two consumers who were receiving some services in their homes but required a higher level of care. Because of a lack of beds in community residential programs, the suit said, the men risked being placed in large institutions.

The state must strive to provide a more robust continuum of care for those waiting for services as well as those who need more than they are currently getting. This cannot occur unless the legislative and executive branches work more closely together to understand the logistical and financial challenges.