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Disability Policy Consortium Weekly Update
Dear Bill,
The Governor announced House 1 yesterday which is the Commonwealth's budget for FY12. The lack of revenue and the failure of the Federal government to recognize the fiscal plight of most states means this budget has serious cuts to programs and safety nets.
Our spread sheet is available at the top of this page on the DPC web site for those of you who like to see the all details.
Here are the quick numbers:
State House Access - unable to determine
Disabled Person Protection Commission level funded
Mass Com Blind
$26,416,630 -$454,240 - 1.69%
Mass Rehab Comm
$40,304,555 -$112,218 -2.35%
Mass. Com Deaf & HoH
$ 4,718,000 -$112,218 -2.32%
Dept Mental Health
$606,993,000 -$21,400,00 -3.41%
Dept Developmental Services
$1,297,018,000 +10,682,000 +0.83%
Talking Book Libraries
level funded in a consolidated account
The Personal Care Assistant program was not touched so the fear of reduced hours for people with less than 15 hours a week seem to off the table. Elsewhere in MassHealth an increase in co-pays from $3 to $5 (66%) will hurt.
Bill Allan Disability Policy Consortium
wfallan@dpcma.org| 617-542-3822
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Editorial: Beyond the Numbers
There are many variables in a budget that are beyond the scope of the numbers presented. Commissioner Janet LaBreck, Mass. Commission for the Blind, shared a quick overview of what the budget impact will be for MCB in a conference call with advocates yesterday.
The agency's FY12 appropriation is $454,000 less than FY11. That only represents the dollars on paper that the agency doesn't have to work with. There are collective bargaining agreements that will cost $341,000 more in FY12; pension costs for Ferguson Industry workers and an SSI account costing $476,000 more; $195,000 in annualization costs for current Turning 22 clients and $180,00 for new T-22 clients that are under funded.
Altogether, the deficit MCB faces is $1.6 million for FY 12 or 5.8% cut form FY11 funding.
Every agency faces similar problems. They all have the collective bargaining costs and annualization costs, new clients on potential rosters, and items we don't see that are left unfunded.
The legislature faces difficult choices, but no more so than the advocates who may have to pick and choose among programs and accounts that all deserve funding.
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EOHHS - Dr. JudyAnn Bigby
Overall House 1 spending next year will be $570 million (1.8 percent) less than projected spending for FY11. Very few items in this year's budget were increased from FY11 funding levels.
For EOHHS, House 1 appropriates $14.95 billion to our agencies. Compared to FY11 projected spending, this represents an overall increase of 0.1%. The increase is largely within the MassHealth program, which has seen significant enrollment growth during the ongoing national recession. Compared to FY11 projected spending, non-MassHealth appropriations experience a decrease of $91.1 million, or -1.9%.
We are fortunate that we are able to announce some positive news in the budget:
- Services and supports for our veterans are preserved;
- Funding has been maintained for Prescription Advantage, elder nutrition, and Councils on Aging;
- Residential, Turning 22, and day services for adults with developmental disabilities are maintained;
- We have prioritized maintaining the extraordinary gains we have made in health care reform and protected MassHealth member eligibility;
- We have maintained benefits for TAFDC and EAEDC recipients;
- There is a $200,000 increase in youth-at-risk matching grants for violence prevention, and we have maintained funding for tobacco cessation, suicide prevention, substance abuse prevention/treatment, domestic violence services, SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners), teenage pregnancy services, state hospitals and the state lab; and
- We have maintained services for children who are abused and neglected.
Of course, I recognize that there is difficult news in this budget. We are committed to working with stakeholders and consumers to mitigate the impact of the necessary reductions. I'm thankful for the work you do each day and for your commitment to the people we serve.
JudyAnn Bigby, M.D.
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Mass Home Care
"We were braced for the worst---
so we can live with these numbers."
Mass Home Care's Reaction to
FY 2012 Governor's Budget
Elder Advocates today responded favorably to Governor Patrick's proposed FY 2012
budget for elderly services.
"Given the generally slow economic recovery still gripping our state, we will
take the Governor's budget as a floor---and try to climb the numbers higher in
the General Court," explained Mass Home Care Executive Director Al Norman.
"Investing in home care services first makes sense, because it saves money
immediately by lowering our nursing facility useage."
Here are some highlights from the Governor's 2012 budget submission.
The Governor's budget level-funds most of the Elder Affairs line items at the
level of the FY 2011 budget as it finally ended up after the restorations of
federal matching funds (FMAP) and the supplemental budget.
One notable exception, however, is the home care purchased services account
(1630), which drops from $101.68 million to $96.781 million, a loss of $4.9 million (the FMAP restoration and supplemental funding was removed), or a drop of -4.8%. This line item is one of the more popular on Beacon Hill, and we hope
to lift it back to at least the FY 2011 level.
The Prescription Advantage program (1455) lost the most money: $9.88 million in
funding. But EOEA indicates that current benefits levels in the program should
be maintained, because more coverage under the donut hole is being picked up by
the federal government.
The protective services/elder abuse account is level funded at $15.25 million.
Mass Home Care has made this elder abuse line item its top funding priority for
the spring budget session. 53 new reports of elder abuse are received every day,
and spending on child abuse and domestic violence is 31 times greater than elder
abuse.
The Enhance Community home care Program (ECOP) and care management accounts are
also level-funded.
The meals on wheels, supportive housing, Councils on Aging, and supportive
housing line items are all level funded at 2011 levels.
In the MassHealth accounts, the Adult Day Health programs are going to be
restructured so that only "complex" clients are accepted into the program. This
is a serious change that may require legislative advocacy to restore.
"In general, we appreciate the Governor's commitment to home care for the
elderly expressed in this budget," Norman said. "We were braced for the worst---
so we can live with these numbers." |
Mass. Budget & Policy Center
Human Services
The Governor's Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 budget proposal provides $3.34 billion for human services. This is a decrease of $7.5 million from the FY 2011 current budget. Human services include services for children and families, transitional assistance for low income families, services to the adults with developmental disabilities and other services.
Children, Youth & Families
- House 1 proposes to fund the MassBudget category of Children, Youth, and Families at $873.4 million, a decrease of $14.3 million from FY 2011 current levels. Of this total, the Department of Children and Families is funded at $737.9 million, a decrease of $5.8 million from FY 2011 current levels, and the Department of Youth Services is funded at $135.6 million, a decrease of $8.5 million.
Elder Services & Disability Services
- In an attempt to hold down increasing long-term care costs, the Governor's budget proposal notes that the Commonwealth is making an effort to replace more costly institutional care with community-based long term care. For elders and younger adults with disabilities, this initiative would allow for the more flexible use of MassHealth long- term care funds for community supports. Nevertheless, the Governor's budget proposal cuts community-based elder home care funding, and increases community supports for developmentally disabled adults only slightly over FY 2011 budgeted amounts.
Transitional Assistance
- The Governor's FY 2012 budget proposal eliminates the $150 clothing allowance provided to families receiving TAFDC grant payments, a cut of $11.5 million. It is estimated that 70,000 children will be affected by this elimination.
- The Employment Services Program, which provides job training and placement support to TAFDC recipients, is also eliminated in the Governor's FY 2012 budget proposal. This program is funded at $15 million in FY 2011.
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Arc of Massachusetts:
Overall the DDS budget is short $25 Million through a combination of cuts and shortages in annualized expenses from 2011.
And we face a tough session with many cuts affecting public safety, local aid and human services.
With 47 new legislators there is much educational work ahead. As the budget now stands, hundreds to thousands of people are at risk of losing family support services, day and community living services this year.
The governor did announce positive news for special education in his budget announcement: funding for the Special Education Circuit Breaker is $213 million, an increase of $80 million over fiscal year 2011. The account had been reduced and offset with federal emergency funds at the start of the recession.
Here is how things stand with the House 1 budget document for the Dept. of Developmental Services (DDS).
Much of the DDS' line items have been level funded and Community Residential Services have received modest increases to serve individuals who transitioned last year from Community First and Turning 22.
DDS reductions include:
- Family support by 32% or $14 Million (M)
-Day/employment services funded except for those who turned 22 last year - $2.7 M cut or a little over 2% of that line item
-2012 Residential funding for individuals leaving nursing homes is missing ($7.75 M)
-Turning 22 has $5 Million for 2012-we appreciate the appropriation but with 708 students identified for 2012, at least $10 M. is needed for year 1 and $19.9 M needed for this year's students for a full year (annualization)
The DDS budget (despite the cuts) is higher than last year to accommodate union bargaining agreements, Turning 22 and Community First programs:
Turning 22 students graduate from special education programs across the state but are NOT guaranteed assistance as adults. There is no transfer of dollars from local cities or towns or Dept. of Education so the state needs to allocate new monies
Community First includes individuals leaving state institutions and nursing homes - these services means costs are reduced in other line items (either state school account or MassHealth skilled nursing facilities)
To address these additional costs, decision makers have cut into other essential services.
Read the rest of the story here.
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