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Ohio Citizens with Mental Retardation & Other Developmental Disabilities Need Your Help to...
- Reduce residential waiting lists
- Increase family resources
- Improve quality of care
- Provide staff with decent wages
Support the MRDD Budget Proposal developed by Ohio's Waiting List Coalition
Act now...
- Contact the Governor's Office before December 1, 2000 call, fax, write or e-mail the Governor and let him know how important it is to address the needs of people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities in the next state budget. Tell him why it is important to you or those you love.
It does not need to be fancy. A two-paragraph letter with a little mustard on it will let them know it came from a real person.
Send your letter to:
The Honorable Bob Taft
Governor, State of Ohio
77 S. High Street, 30th Floor
Columbus OH 43266-0601
Or you may call: (614) 466-3555, fax: (614) 466-9354, or e-mail: Governor.Taft@das.state.oh.us
- Get some friends to contact the Governor's Office with their own messages.
- Share your message with your State Senator, State Representative, or with the person who will hold that position beginning in 2001. Ask this person to send a letter of support for the Coalition's proposal to the Governor.
Did you know?
- Approximately 60% of adults with mental retardation are still living with their parents.
- The vast majority (95.9%) of Ohioans agree that it is important to eliminate lengthy waiting lists for people with MRDD to obtain services.
- Most Ohioans (80.1%) approve of spending more money than the State currently spends to assist people with developmental disabilities and their families.
- More than 6,800 individuals with MRDD have been waiting for residential services; some for many years.
- Another 6055 people are waiting to move to a more appropriate setting.
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Olmstead decision that indefinite waiting lists are unconstitutional.
- MRDD's share of the State Budget has consistently decreased over the past ten years.
- The impact of additional State expenditures will be multiplied if used as an investment to obtain more Medicaid funding.
- Every time a County Board diverts local levy dollars to provide emergency housing, it is less able to provide other essential services, such as employment, early intervention, transportation, and service coordination.
The longer we wait to begin repairing the MRDD service system, the more expensive it will be. Support the MRDD Budget Proposal NOW!
Members of Ohio's Waiting List Coalition
Advocacy & Protective Services, Inc.
Arc of Ohio
Cerebral Palsy Association of Ohio
Ohio AAMR
Ohio Association of County Boards of MRDD
Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council
Ohio League for the Mentally Retarded
Ohio Legal Rights Services
Ohio Provider Resource Association
Ohio Superintendents of County Boards of MRDD
Ohio Supported Living Association
People First of Ohio
Our Goal
To have the Governor adopt the Waiting List Coalition's MRDD Budget Proposal in his next budget, which will be out late in 2000 or early in 2001.
It becomes very difficult to add new funding to the state budget if the Governor has not already proposed it.
How we got to this point...
Ohio has underfunded MRDD services for the past decade.
Result: Below standard supports and services, as pointed out by federal inspectors in the recent Medicaid report, and inadequate wages to provider employees.
Ohio has not met its constitutional duty to provide residential care for adults with MRDD.
Result: Thousands of people are stuck on waiting lists that are not moving, and County Boards must divert local levy dollars to fund emergency residential services.
Ohio has not taken full advantage of the federal Medicaid funds available for residential care.
Result: Millions of federal dollars that Ohio citizens with MRDD are entitled to are lost each day.
Ohio's leading MRDD professional and advocacy organizations have developed a comprehensive plan to:
- Substantially reduce waiting lists
- Fix the problems in the system
- Bring to Ohio a significant amount of additional federal Medicaid funds, as shown in the chart on the right.
Waiting List Coalition's MRDD Budget Proposal
State General Revenue Funds (GRF)
| CURRENT BUDGET WITH INFLATION Maintaining current services | $352,600,000 | $361,415,000 |
| INCREASE CURRENT SERVICES | $8,600,000 | $17,415,000 |
| INFRASTRUCTURE REPAIRS | - | - |
| Residential Program Managers: To improve quality/ oversight | $ 5,700,000 | $11,400,000 |
| Residential Direct Care Wages: To recruit/retrain qualified employees | $15,000,000 | $28,400,000 |
| Delegated Nursing: To ensure quality medical care | $ 5,000,000 | $ 5,125,000 |
| Service and Support Administration: Service coordination, quality assurance, abuse investigation | $10,000,000 | $10,250,000 |
| Tax Equity: Quality CAFS (Community Alternative Funding Systems) Services statewide | $ 5,350,000 | $10,700,000 |
| Behavior Management: Costs of new rule | $ 4,500,000 | $ 4,612,500 |
| Subtotal Infrastructure Repairs | $45,550,000 | $70,487,500 |
| WAIVER EXPANSION | - | - |
| Family Support: Support in home, respite, etc. | $ 3,000,000 | $ 6,000,000 |
| Underdeveloped Counties: Aid to areas with few residences | $16,950,000 | $34,323,750 |
| General Waiver Expansion: Using local funds as match | -0- | -0- |
| Subtotal Waiver Expansion | $19,950,000 | $40,323,750 |
| TOTAL NEW STATE GRF DOLLARS NEEDED | $ 74,100,000* | $128,226,250* |
* These new state dollars will generate/draw down nearly three times that amount in new federal funds.
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