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Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Proposed cuts to Medicaid, health care services will produce actual harm to Idahoans
Large cuts to Medicaid on top of the cuts in services already being rolled out will produce actual harm, real hardship and catastrophic overload for Idaho families caring for family members with disabilities, writes guest columnist Gary Sandusky. (Photo by) U.S. Mike Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, should be lauded for his vocal and enthusiastic support of increasing and renewing the Child Tax Credit. It is one of those pandemic-era programs that made a big difference in a working, Idaho family's ability to survive and thrive during tough times. In many ways, the times have not improved. It is not easy or inexpensive to have and raise kids in 2025, and Sen. Crapo's support for the Child Tax Credit reflects a sensitivity to that challenge. Amid protests and Democratic pushback, U.S. House GOP launches work on Medicaid cuts I would like to see him extend the same support to the 89,000 Idaho families that do not have enough income to qualify for the tax credit under the proposed guidelines. Those families face the same costs and the same challenges, but they have fewer resources to deal with it. But on the issue of the proposed cuts to Medicaid, Sen. Crapo's statements are much more cautious. I first met Sen. Crapo in 1989 when I was working with a group of people attempting to move the state of Idaho to adopt Personal Care Services as an option of the state's Medicaid program. We met in his office during the time he served as the Idaho Senate's president pro tempore. He agreed to let our bill get a hearing, a controversial stance due to the opposition of some in the Idaho Legislature. He struck me as fair minded and willing to do the right thing, even if that thing was controversial. By 1990, a Personal Care Services bill was signed by Gov. Cecil Andrus and the program has subsequently allowed elders to stay in their own home, with assistance, rather than being placed in a nursing home. And it has given people with disabilities, who otherwise would be institutionalized, the option to live in community. Fast forward to 2025 and the national clamor to cut Medicaid due to waste, fraud, and abuse. Sen. Crapo has stated that he is not in favor of cutting benefits or coverage under Medicaid, but it is possible to cut the budget without technically changing the rules about coverage and benefits. It hardly matters if one qualifies for benefits and coverage if the dollars are not there to make it a reality. Cutting the budget will result in fewer people being served, services being cut out, and new recipients on waiting lists for years. Idaho has avoided wait lists, and most people with disabilities cannot wait for years to access services. What always gets lost in this loud and vocal conversation that implies that users of Medicaid are engaging in waste, fraud and abuse is the unavoidable fact that big cuts to the Medicaid budget nationally will fall heavily on people with disabilities. The result will be life threatening harm to the same people we were working to protect in 1990 – elders and people with disabilities. I personally know many adults with disabilities and families caring for their disabled family member. The suggestion that the families and individuals I know are engaging in waste or abuse is beyond outrageous. They carry huge burdens even with Medicaid assisting them. The pandemic took a nationwide toll on the services for people with disabilities. The headline of an article last week from Disability Scoop, a national newspaper on disability-related issues stated, 'Nation's Disability Services System Begins To Buckle As Funding Threats Intensify.' And this characterization of services for people with disabilities was about other cuts being pushed through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — before the proposed cuts to Medicaid have landed. Large cuts to Medicaid on top of the cuts in services already being rolled out will produce actual harm, real hardship and catastrophic overload for Idaho families caring for family members with disabilities. Surely that is not a good strategy to address waste, fraud, and abuse. It is more like an inquisition than problem solving. Sen. Crapo needs to exhibit the same fair mindedness we witnessed in 1989 as we discussed personal care services, the same sensitivity that he is exhibiting for the plight of Idaho families raising children in 2025 – AND he should stand up for Medicaid with the same vocal enthusiasm he has brought to the Child Tax Credit. It is the right thing to do, even if it is a controversial stand within his own party. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
CDPAP transition 'a nightmare' for Southern Tier agencies. What to know
New York's shakeup of a Medicaid-funded home caregiver program has left Binghamton-area residents and lawmakers confused and concerned about access to its services. On Sept. 30, 2024, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a single private Georgia-based company, Public Partnerships LLC would replace hundreds to handle the administrative and financial affairs for the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance program beginning in April. All New Yorkers currently enrolled in CDPAP will keep their services under the new format, and there will be no changes to eligibility, but users are required to register with PPL for home care workers to continue to be paid. Hochul recently extended the registration deadline from April 1 to April 30, but even with the extension, New York State Senator Lea Webb criticized the rollout of the transition, and said it requires more "transparency and accountability." Webb and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo joined representatives from Finger Lakes Independence Center, Access to Independence, Cortland County Community Action program and the Southern Tier Independence Center on Monday, March 31 to address concerns of residents and caregivers. "We are at a critical point," Webb said, "because there are a lot of challenges." Statewide, about 220,000 CDPAP consumers had taken action in advance of the April 1 transition deadline, or about 78% of the total number of consumers who have relied on the program previously, according to state health officials. That figure included about 165,000 New Yorkers who have either started or completed the registration process. Another 55,000 New Yorkers are in the process of transitioning from CDPAP to Personal Care Services program, which includes other caregiver models within Medicaid, as well as some programs covered by health plans or private payment. Home care users who switch to Personal Care Services have the option to return to CDPAP in the future, health officials said. About 280,000 New Yorkers had been relying upon CDPAP prior to the overhaul efforts, suggesting as many as 60,000 could have lost care due to their inability to meet the April 1 deadline. The exact amount of people enrolling in the program going forward will remain unclear until the new April 30 deadline. The state underestimated and downplayed the volume of people and the overall transition process which "lacked coordination from the beginning," Lupardo said, adding the CDPAP program is "far too important to be put at risk with this rushed rollout." More: Bethanie Dougherty went missing 17 years ago in Broome County: What to know Local agencies assisting clients in the transition say they have encountered hurdles. PPL has set up call centers and registration information sessions to assist in the transition process, but Jan Lynch, the executive director of the Finger Lakes Independence Center, said the system is flawed. "We have hired extra staff to help people sign up and it is still a nightmare," said Lynch, who referenced system crashes, unanswered calls and differing advice depending on who picks up the phone. The Southern Tier Independence Center has acted as a middleman facilitator for over 25 years for the CDPAP program. Jennifer Watson, executive director for STIC, said most workers are earning minimum wage and living paycheck to paycheck. Home care workers will retroactively receive payments for hours worked in April, provided the April 30 registration deadline is met. If CDPAP clients are not able to meet the registration deadline, workers are left facing a decision, Watson said, "continue to work without pay and support their consumers or find work elsewhere and leave the workforce." "That is going to leave people with disabilities high and dry, they are going to end up in emergency rooms, hospitalized, institutionalized or honestly worst." A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on Monday, March 31, allowing other financial agencies to continue to serve CDPAP clients who have not yet registered with PPL — the order did not impact the transition already underway for those who have registered. The case was scheduled to be revisited in court on Friday, April 4. Kalyn Grant reports on public service issues for the Press & Sun-Bulletin, focusing on schools and community impact. Have a story to share? Follow her on Instagram @KalynCarmen and on Facebook under Kalyn Kearney. Get in touch at kcgrant@ This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: CDPAP transition 'a nightmare' for Medicaid-funded program users
