Editorial: Fla. Failing IDD Community

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Names are stacked nearly 20,000 deep on a statewide list of people who have requested financial help to pay for special services ranging from job training to housing.

Many of these wait-listed Floridians have been on the list for years. And many of them may not be granted the help they need anytime soon.

Fla. Legislator Seek to Shrink Wait List

TALLAHASSEE – Backing a proposal by Gov. Rick Scott, House and Senate budget negotiators have agreed to spend $36.3 million next year to provide services to hundreds of people with developmental disabilities who have been stuck on a waiting list.

The waiting list has grown to about 22,000 people over the years, as the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities ran deficits in its main program for providing services. But APD officials say they expect to avoid a deficit this year, and Scott included money in his proposal 2013-14 budget to start chipping away at the waiting list.

Florida Cuts Rates to Providers

TALLAHASSEE -- The Agency for Persons with Disabilities implemented a 4 percent provider rate reduction July 1, as required by the Florida Legislature.
Additionally, the law requires a cost plan freeze for all waiver recipients. No one may increase their waiver services unless they are in a crisis situation. The Florida Legislature has mandated that the group bring its Medicaid waiver expenditures within is appropriation.

Florida Governor Drops Rate Cuts

Hopefully this will come to fruition, but just waiting for the next installment.

TALLAHASSEE -- After taking weeks of heat, Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday he’s withdrawing his order cutting payments to caregivers for Floridians with Down Syndrome, spinal bifida, autism and other developmental disabilities.
Scott confirmed what he hinted earlier this week — during a visit to the state’s Agency for Persons with Disabilities. The House and Senate have agreed to find dollars in their budget proposal to cover the $174 million deficit that prompted his 15 percent rate cut, which he said will be lifted by the beginning of next week.

Scorned Bureaucrat Gets New Job in Florida

I worked in Florida in the early-mid '80s because for a reporter, there was no better place for the unusual story. But things have gotten way out of hand. Seems like Gov. Scott just doesn't get it.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Almost a month ago, Gov. Rick Scott gave an unadvertised $78,000-a-year job to Carl Littlefield, a career bureaucrat who quit his latest job 17 days after he was appointed rather than face questions about his handling of a controversial group home.
The revelation of Littlefield’s new job has become a nuisance for Scott, who has demanded the elimination of 1,849 full-time jobs at the same state agency.
The governor maintains he is only trying to bridge gaping holes such as the estimated $174-million deficit at the Agency for Persons with Disabilities.

Fla. Governor Orders 15 Percent Cuts

Florida Gov. Rick Scott ordered deep cuts Thursday to programs that serve tens of thousands of residents with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism and other developmental disabilities.
Though a range of state services face cuts from this year's Legislature, the governor invoked his emergency powers to order the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities to immediately roll back payments to group homes and social workers by 15 percent — an amount providers say could put them out of business and threaten their clients’ safety.
"lt's not like, 'Gee, does this mean I have to skip a vacation this year?'" said Amy Van Bergen, executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Central Florida. "Potentially, these cuts have life and death implications for these people."