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Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
More than 20,000 Floridians with disabilities left waiting for solutions
The Brief Florida provides around 35,000 residents with developmental disabilities with services, but more than 20,000 others have been stuck on a wait list for years. In 2025, the state opened a voluntary, pilot program for home-based services in parts of the state. Florida lawmakers have an interest in expanding it to everyone on the wait list. TAMPA, Fla. - Throughout Florida, people with severe disabilities are suffering without the home-based services they are eligible to receive. Florida's government provides services to around 35,000 residents living at home with developmental disabilities, but more than 20,000 others have been stuck on a wait list for years. Big picture view Florida gives people with severe developmental disabilities a choice: choose an institutional setting and be separated from their loved ones or stay with their families and get them services they need at home. Many choose the home option, which is cheaper and intended to save state taxpayers. However, many who choose this option get caught in a government backlog and spend years waiting for the support. WAITING FOR HELP: Delays in services for people with developmental disabilities troubles state lawmakers A Floridian's Perspective JJ Holmes requires a wheelchair and uses a voice synthesizer to communicate. For the past year, we've followed JJ and his mother Alison from their home in Seminole County, to the Florida capitol, to legislative meetings in the Tampa Bay area. When given opportunities to speak in public forums, JJ thanked the state for recently providing home-based services through the iBudget Waiver, but he and Alison stress that there is nothing to celebrate after 18 years of waiting — especially as Florida's Agency for Persons with Disabilities (which manages the wait list) left $360 million it received from the legislature unspent. "I mean, it's just it's devastating to know that 18 years that he's wasted, and that money was just sitting there unspent," Alison said. Follow FOX 13 on YouTube JJ Holmes knows how to get lawmakers' attention and push them, and they've said that's exactly what they need. In 2024, after FOX 13 aired JJ's story and followed him through the halls of power, the legislature responded. It passed a bill committing more than $38 million to get JJ and around 300 others off the wait list. Now, JJ is traveling across the state on behalf of more than 21,000 others still caught in the backlog. "If I was a teacher and the state legislature was my student. I'd have to sit down with their parents and have a conversation about repeating a year," JJ said. The other side This is a complicated issue, and in a part-time, term-limited, revolving-door legislature, new members must always get caught up to speed. Experienced legislators said the same goes for Florida's Agency for Persons with Disabilities. MORE: Waiting for help: More than 21K of Floridians with developmental disabilities stuck in backlog "I mean the turnover is great. I think that has a lot to do with those funds not being expended," said State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, (D) Palm Beach. "You get somebody who comes in, and they're trying to figure things out. By the time they figure half of it out, they leave and somebody new comes in." JJ and others said prior legislatures also tried to downplay the backlog. The backstory A couple of years ago, they passed a law to replace the term 'wait list' in statute and records with the term 'pre-enrollment.' Current legislative leaders still call it a wait list and are plugged into the situation and taking steps to try to clear the backlog. However, JJ and some others fear one of their biggest moves could backfire. What's next In 2025, the state opened a voluntary, pilot program for home-based services in parts of the state. Families can give up their spot on the wait list and get support through a private managed care plan instead of waiting to get it directly from the state. Florida lawmakers have an interest in expanding it to everyone on the wait list. PREVIOUS: FOX 13 investigates wait list for developmentally disabled citizens "It looks great that you've got all these benefits, but when you actually try and use them, then you just hit a brick wall. You slam into a brick wall," Alison said. She's referring to their experience with private managed care through Medicaid – for medical benefits. They're not happy with how it tends to JJ when he is sick, so they are concerned about the idea of extending it to his daily living needs. For the past year, Alison tracked how JJ's medical appointments turned out with Medicaid's managed care system. "Thirty-four rides didn't show up" Alison said. "Out of 40, the last 40. And then they'd say, we've resolved your complaint, resolved your grievance. We'd get a letter, and the same thing would happen next time." JJ continues to travel across Florida to discuss this with state lawmakers. They plan to review feedback from participants in the pilot program before passing additional legislation to expand it. The Source The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Craig Patrick. WATCH FOX 13 NEWS: STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV Download FOX Local mobile app:Apple |Android Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines Download the SkyTower Radar app Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Delays in services for people with developmental disabilities troubles state lawmakers
The Brief Florida currently has a crisis in providing care for children with developmental disabilities. More than 21,000 people are currently waitlisted for Medicaid's iBudget Waiver program. The program is meant to provide a range of home-based services to children. TAMPA, Fla. - Florida has a crisis in caring for children with developmental disabilities. Thousands are not receiving the home services they signed up for through a Medicaid waiver program due to a waitlist that requires many to wait for years. Dig deeper It includes Kelly and Wes Olive in St. Petersburg. Their son Bennett, 10, was born with a rare gene disorder that delayed his development. What they're saying "He ranges from two to five on an intellectual scale, depending on what it is," said Kelly. "We have to blend all his food for him and feed him, diaper him, all the things you would do like a newborn mom. I still have to do with my 10-year-old." READ: Controversial gun bill moves through Florida legislature following deadly FSU shooting Bennett had six surgeries and lives with a shunt that runs from his brain and spine to his stomach to keep him alive. "It could fail at any time. So, anyone that's around him has to kind of know the signs of a shunt failure," Kelly said. He has also had intense seizures, with some lasting hours. "We're in the trauma room fighting for his life. He was on about a three-hour seizure, and he just still wasn't breathing, still wasn't coming out of it," she said. Bennett pulled through that scare and continues to make his parents proud. He requires a lot of attention, which is why Kelly gave up her job to care for him. Big picture view They have Medicaid, which makes them eligible for a range of home-based services for children with developmental disabilities under a program called the iBudget Waiver. However, they cannot receive it because Bennett is stuck on a waitlist with more than 21,000 others. "And right now we've been on the waitlist for seven years with no idea when we could possibly get off," Kelly noted. State managers have tied the issue to a lack of funds (excluding the billions of dollars our state government has stashed in reserves and the hundreds of millions intended to reduce the backlog that Florida's Agency for Persons with Disabilities received but did not spend). "They talk about what a vulnerable population it is, what a sacred population it is, and then hold on to the money," said Alison Holmes, a mother of an adult son who waited 18 years to receive home support through the program. That's just part of the problem that causes families to suffer. The state will remove you from the waitlist if it determines there is a crisis, but families in situations they consider a crisis are often denied or wait months for a response before being approved. "You have to be in like a dire, unsafe situation, and even then, you still might not get off the waitlist," Kelly noted. For example, Yasmina Halim's daughter Lily has severe developmental disabilities and is terminally ill. She said she was denied three times and eventually received approval for home-based services, after she could not find an institution that would accept and care for her daughter. PREVIOUS: Waiting for help: More than 21K of Floridians with developmental disabilities stuck in backlog Denie Sydney got her daughter Mattison out of the backlog due to the crisis, but she overworked herself caring for Mattison until she had a breakdown. Meanwhile, the Olive family is attempting to get off the waitlist by applying for crisis consideration. They couldn't afford their mortgage payments, went into forbearance and are trying to avoid foreclosure. "Therein comes the crisis. If we don't keep our house, we might be homeless," said Kelly. The other side Some lawmakers have tried to help with varying degrees of success. They required the state to approve or deny a crisis claim within 15 days, but families sat it's still taking months to get an answer either way. They also required the state to create an online application to expedite the process. CLICK HERE:>>>Follow FOX 13 on YouTube However, it does not offer an option to claim a crisis, sending families like the Olives right back to pen and paper forms. The legislature also created a program for parents on Medicaid to undergo training and be hired as caregivers for their children. That could be a lifeline for the Olive family, but for them and many others, it comes with a catch. The program would pay them just enough to disqualify them from Medicaid. "It's like a catch-22," said Kelly. "You're going to go through all the training, you're going to get one paycheck, and then you don't have Medicaid anymore. It doesn't even make sense." What's next Lawmakers are aware of these issues and are currently working on reforms. The Source FOX 13 Chief Political Investigator Craig Patrick collected the information in this story. WATCH FOX 13 NEWS: STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV Download FOX Local mobile app: Apple | Android Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines Download the SkyTower Radar app Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Waiting for help: More than 21K of Floridians with developmental disabilities stuck in backlog
The Brief Over 21,000 of Florida's most vulnerable citizens have been waitlisted despite needing critical care. Many with developmental disabilities qualify for home support services through a program called the iBudget Waiver. The agency that runs the service blames the backlog on a lack of funds. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - More than 21,000 of Florida's most vulnerable citizens need help but do not receive it due to a backlog in the state government. The backstory They have developmental disabilities and qualify for home support services through Medicaid under a program called the iBudget Waiver. It currently serves more than 35,000 enrollees but has a waitlist of more than 21,000 others. The average wait has been eight and a half years. Florida's Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) manages the backlog, tying it to a lack of funds. READ: Pasco County Animal Services suspends dog adoptions after respiratory disease outbreak It would cost around $1.2 billion to get everyone off the waitlist. Families on the waitlist note they have waited for help as the state received large surpluses in revenue and placed billions of dollars in reserve. At the same time, the legislature specifically allocated millions to APD to reduce the waitlist. However, it has not gone down and APD did not spend much of the money it received. What they're saying "$360 million is being recommended to revert reappropriate this year when we've appropriated an average of $88 million over the past four years to pull people off the waitlist," said Escambia State Rep. Alex Andrade during a Florida House subcommittee hearing on March 12. READ: Controversial gun bill moves through Florida legislature following deadly FSU shooting APD did not spend $360 million, and it was allocated to reduce the backlog because managers say that people already being served may have growing needs and they don't want to run out of money. Dig deeper Former APD leader Jim DeBeaugrine said APD should not be concerned about that because the state projects the needs of current enrollees for the future and accordingly budgets for those needs. If APD had spent the $360 million as lawmakers intended, there would also have been a larger share of matching federal funds, totaling more than $800 million. "At some point, you need some services to help you, and I'm doing the job of a lot of people," said Yasmina Halim. CLICK HERE:>>>Follow FOX 13 on YouTube Her 12-year-old daughter Lily is developmentally disabled and terminally ill. Struggling as she waited, Halim made the painful decision to give up her place in line and place her daughter in institutional care (which could cost taxpayers more than the home-based support she was waiting for). However, due to the complexity of Lily's health, the scale of her disabilities and a shortage of service providers, they were unable to find an institution that would accept her. Big picture view The state then agreed to provide home-based services based on her crisis. Other families with pressing needs fail to get out of the queue due to the crisis. The Source FOX 13 Chief Political Investigator Craig Patrick collected the information in this story. WATCH FOX 13 NEWS: STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV Download FOX Local mobile app: Apple | Android Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines Download the SkyTower Radar app Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter
