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WPAS Updates
June 19, 2002
The staff at WPAS continues to work to advocate for the civil rights of people with disabilities in Washington state. There are many issues and a whole host of strategies employed in seeking our goal - dignity, equality, and self-determination for people with disabilities. Analyzing and responding to the budget crisis of the state is one of the projects that WPAS has been busy with. There are four prominent threats to the services of people with disabilities that are being proposed or implemented by the state in an effort to save money.
 | Medicaid Waiver - You probably already read about this subject in previous issues of Envoy On-Line. The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) is asking the U.S. government for permission to change the way they provide Medicaid. Currently, Medicaid is an "entitlement" - this means that anyone who is eligible for Medicaid must receive services. DSHS is asking for permission to (in many cases) limit Medicaid services to a dollar amount that is set two years in advance. This is a bad idea. When the economy is bad, two things happen. More people need Medicaid and the state has less money to spend. In other words, the more people need to receive Medicaid services, the less the state will spend on it. |
| CAP Waiver - The last paragraph talked about a "waiver" to Medicaid rules that will hurt people. The CAP (Community Alternative Placement) Waiver has been a good waiver for people with developmental disabilities. It has allowed people to live in communities instead of being confined in institutions. Unfortunately, the CAP waiver is due to expire this summer and the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) is planning to make some changes. Watch Envoy On-Line to keep current on what the new CAP waiver will look like - or better yet, sign up for WPAS Email Updates. WPAS will send you the latest information directly to you if you have email. |
| DDD Eligibility - The Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) is changing the rules that determine who is eligible for their services. Sometime this summer, DDD will publish their suggestions for rules changes. WPAS will study those suggestions and tell you how those rule changes will affect your life. The fastest way you can get this information is to subscribe to WPAS Email Updates. WPAS will keep your email address private, and if you decide to stop receiving our messages, all you have to do is ask. |
| SSI State Supplement - This is the most confusing of all the changes. Even the Legislature didn't know what they were voting for when they approved this. The budget writers in Olympia came up with a tricky way to save a lot of money for the state by taking money away from low-income folks. Basically, the state will stop adding some money to the checks received by people with disabilities who get Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from the federal government. The total amount the state was spending on this was about $21 million. The federal government, however, has a rule saying that the state can't simply stop paying that money - they have to keep on spending it on people with disabilities somehow. The budget writers got the idea that they could give that money to some clients of DDD (here's where it gets really tricky). These DDD clients were receiving services, but now that they will be getting cash instead - DDD will no longer provide those services. It ends up being a bad deal for everybody except the budget writers. |
To learn more about these issues contact WPAS by email, snail mail, or telephone. The address and phone numbers for WPAS are printed at the bottom of this page.
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