CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Senate is working out an emotionally-charged budget issue over funding for the home care of disabled people.
Gov. Jim Justice had promised an additional $20 million meant to eliminate a waitlist for the intellectual and developmental disabilities waiver, which allows for home care, rather than institutionalization.
When the Senate Finance Committee introduced its budget proposal this past week, the IDD waiver program was allocated half that, $10 million extra.
Justice issued a statement a day later, saying that amount is unacceptable.
Now, as the budget moves through the full Senate, that difference seems to be working out.
Senate Finance Chairman Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, has an amendment that would add another $10 million, bumping the full amount from $98.5 million to $108.5 million. That’s the full amount Justice sought.
“Let’s get this clarified,” Blair said in a floor speech today.
He said the amount had been lowered at first because there was no other give in the budget for other additional priorities.
“This was never an attempt to keep people from receiving services,” Blair said. “The point of the matter is we have finite resources.”
Officials with DHHR confirmed the agreement.
“We had discussions this morning with Chairman Blair and there will be a floor amendment in the Senate to add that funding back into the program at the governor’s requested amount,” Jeremiah Samples, the deputy director of the state Department of Health and Human Resources, said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
“So we’re grateful to the Senate and the House and absolutely appreciative of the governor.”
During Friday’s Senate floor session, lawmakers voted to move the budget bill on to its third reading while keeping the right to amend it. So that lines up for passage during a session on Saturday.
Senate Democrats also said they would offer an amendment to provide the full $20 million additional funding for the IDD waiver.
“Some families have been waiting a year or more to be approved for this funding,” Senate Minority Leader Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, stated on Friday morning.
“We are going to help these families.”
Justice announced during his 2020 State of the State Address that DHHR Cabinet Secretary Bill Crouch and Revenue Secretary Dave Hardy had found a solution to fund the elimination of the waitlist.
The IDD waiver program gives individuals the choice of receiving support and services in their home and community instead of in an institutional setting. The cost of services provided by the IDD waiver is 46 percent lower than the cost of services provided by an intermediate care facility for individuals with developmental disabilities, the administration says.
Elimination of the waitlist would allow 1,060 additional West Virginians, including more than 600 children, to receive services meant to help with home care of children with disabilities.
About 4,800 people are currently served by the waiver.
“These are absolutely the most vulnerable citizens in West Virginia,” Samples said today on “Talkline.”
“This funding is to keep these very vulnerable, very needy individuals out of institutions in their communities and with their families.”
.@JeremiahSamples, West Virginia Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, joins @HoppyKercheval to discuss the IDD Waiver Program. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIRZCB pic.twitter.com/76wGaJpI9r
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) February 28, 2020