Extra funds should go to disabled

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s 2009 budget contains several positive steps toward addressing many of the pressing human needs facing Utahns today. He recommends a 20 percent reduction in the 1,900 people waiting for community-based supports and a nearly $5 million reimbursement-rate increase for community-based disability service providers, so they can attract and retain highly qualified staff.

The Disability Law Center believes this is a good first step. However, we must do more to increase the availability of community-based supports so that families wishing to keep their loved ones at home — or living as independently as possible — can do so. Community-based supports are often two- to five-times less expensive than facility-based alternatives for people with disabilities and the aging population.

While we would obviously like to see the immediate expansion and full funding of community-based supports, we do not have the luxury of holding out for such an ideal. Instead, we are focusing on stretching the state's limited resources as far as possible to provide cost-effective supports to the aging and people with disabilities.

Among the options we and other advocates propose is using one-time money to give family caregivers support through respite care.

We are also researching the feasibility of establishing a statewide network of respite care volunteers, and the creation of a time bank in which individuals can exchange their time, knowledge or skills for the supports they need to care for a family member in their home. In addition, the Legislature and others have recently expressed some interest in participating in public-private partnerships to help people navigate the long-term care system.

Aging and disability advocates will ask the Legislature to pass a resolution urging our congressional delegation to push for the continued shift of federal Medicaid dollars toward community-based supports.

The Disability Law Center is looking to work with the state departments of Health and Human Services to combine the facility-based and community-based long-term care budgets so that an individual can choose the setting in which she or he wishes to receive supports. Finally, we need to take advantage of one or more of the options available in Medicaid to provide relatively inexpensive supports now to delay or prevent the need for more expensive care in the future.

Given that the state is about to enjoy its fifth consecutive year of better-than-expected revenues, we must seize this opportunity to put our money where our mouth is and prudently invest in families and our most vulnerable citizens.

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Andrew Riggle is the public policy advocate at the Disability Law Center. He has cerebral palsy.

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