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Janice Blalack
From: Atwood, Rawlins County
Impact of Budget Cuts: Loss of HCBS/PD Services
LOC Score: 17
Senator: Stan Clark (40th)
Representative: John Faber (120th)
It is my understanding that the LOC scores have been raised
and I no longer qualify to receive Home and Community Based
Services. This is distressing for me to find
out. The disability that I have does not go away and
will never go away. I have Guillain-Barre
Syndrome. It is a virus that attacks the sheath of
the nerve. It renders me motionless at some
points. I will always need the assistance of a cane
or walker to get around.
It is my understanding that the individuals that were grandfathered into the Home and Community Based Services Program after LOC scores increased in 1999 are no longer eligible for these services. I understand each year by law I am to be assessed for my needs. My assessment score was 17 this year, which made me ineligible for Home and Community Based Services. I would like you to realize that the 20 hours each week that I received for attendant care helped keep me out of a nursing home and was cheaper for the State, compared to $3,000 a month for me to be in a nursing home. This seems to me that the poorest of the poor are paying the consequences for poor choices made by the State at earlier times. I am not necessarily blaming you for the situation the state is in, but I want you to understand how frustrating it is for me.
The services that I did get from my attendant care worker were: getting groceries, making the bed, laundry, cleaning floors, and driving me to appointments. I am unable to drive and I find it difficult to do laundry due to the location of the building in which the machines are housed. Being taken off of services also means that I no longer get my prescriptions paid for. I can live with having a messy house, but I cannot live without my medication. When I look at Medicaid, my spend down would be so high that I would never reach the amount required by SRS. It is approximately $6,000.
Since I no longer receive help with my prescriptions, it will come down to what is the most important for me to have: utilities, food, my prescriptions or shelter. I can't afford to be without any of them and survive. Can you come and live with me and see if you can make it? Can you put yourself in my shoes and understand where I am coming from? I believe that unless you have been there, most individuals cannot.
I understand that there are individuals far worse off than I am, but the assistance that I received was very important to me. It allowed me to be as independent as I can and also to live as close to a normal life as possible.
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Marie Gaines/Jo Dee Dunn l Contents l Carl Fry
Statewide Independent Living Council of
Kansas
www.silck.org
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