Demos: Shocking impact of local cuts on disabled people revealed

Demos: Shocking impact of local cuts on disabled people revealed

When the HHS cuts were highlighted at long last, my thought was - "okay, now the law suits begin and they will prove more costly than the ALEC-proscribed 'cures'"

Well, the UK is a bit ahead of us in all this -- here's what to expect -- -LAW SUITS.  LAW SUITS. LAW SUITS in all kinds of areas no one ever thought would come to pass.

Coping with the Cuts, 2011

Research published by think tank Demos exposes the impact that local budget cuts are having on disabled people and indicates that some councils are making cuts to disabled people’s services without knowledge of the number or needs of people in their area.

*snip*

interviewing disabled families and their support

providers in three local authorities we have found that disabled

people often have to cope with the impact of multiple cuts

simultaneously—the people we spoke to were experiencing

increases in service charges, restrictions or reductions in

direct payments, and service closures all at the same time. The

cumulative effect on disabled families is that even cuts and

changes that seem evenly spread across services can converge

on individual families and have a disproportionately negative

effect. This is rarely taken into account in (local or national)

spending strategies and again underlines the importance of

robust impact assessments based on ‘real’ data from those

using services.

It is worth remembering that the successful legal

challenge to changes to care eligibility and cuts in

Birmingham were based on a lack of consultation with local

service users and an insufficient impact assessment.

136

The

presiding judge said, ‘even in… straitened times the need

for clear, well-informed decision making when assessing the

impacts on less advantaged members of society is as great, if

not greater’.

137

A more recent legal challenge by the National

Deaf Children’s Society against Stoke on Trent City Council

is also based on the lack of a proper impact assessment of the

cuts to deaf children’s services,

138

while at the time of writing,

the Isle of Wight was awaiting a High Court decision as to

whether a full judicial review should be undertaken regarding

its decision to increase care eligibility.

139

A Community Care survey suggests, in fact, that legal

challenges to local authority care policies have increased by

45 per cent this year.

140

Nonetheless, we did not carry out this analysis of local data

and mapping to name and shame local authorities or to fight the

budgetary cuts being made; instead we wanted to demonstrate

that a budgetary reduction need not inevitably lead to frontline cuts,

higher charges or poorer quality services. There are

ways—some innovative, some everyday and common-sense—to

mitigate the impact of the cuts on the front line and protect

disabled people from a reduction or restriction of services.

MN ALEC members start to mess with state insurance exchange already

Sen. David Hann follows a strictly ALEC agenda - and we know for sure that Senator Chris Gerlach is an ALEC member.  As ALEC has the gutting of ALL ObamaCare and state health plans, this comes as no surprise.  Be nice if the press would mention these FACTS.  Their pamphlet on gutting Obamacare is well known.  What strategy should be used, was hotly debated at the ALEC convention this month, as this link will show.  Gerlach is on the ALEC task force on Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development which indicates he has been given corporate orders.  No legislation gets by an ALEC member without corporate participation.

Minnesota Republicans demand role in state insurance exchange

By Doug Belden
dbelden@pioneerpress.com

Updated: 08/16/2011 11:52:34 PM CDT

Republican lawmakers said Tuesday that Gov. Mark Dayton lacks the authority to proceed with a federally funded health-insurance exchange for Minnesota, and they vowed to try to block the effort.

GOP members generally oppose the idea of an exchange - an online marketplace that would allow consumers to compare and buy coverage - but if the state is going to have one, the Legislature must be involved in developing it, said Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

"We don't think that a significant step of this nature should be taken unilaterally by the governor," Hann said at a news conference. "We are going to pursue every means available to us as a Legislature to prevent that from occurring."

Asked if that could include court action, Hann said, "If that's the avenue that we have to pursue, absolutely."

Hann and other Republican legislative leaders spoke out Tuesday in response to the announcement last week that Minnesota would receive $4.2 million to help set up an exchange, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

"We're surprised by the Republican legislators taking this tack," responded Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman, whose department is leading the effort to establish an exchange in Minnesota.

The exchange plan was in the Commerce Department budget, Rothman said, and lawmakers were notified about the recent federal grant as well.

Minnesota must act now to get its exchange ready by Jan. 1, 2013, with implementation the following year, Rothman said. If it does not, "the federal government will step in, and Minnesota will be subject to a federal exchange."

Sen. Chris Gerlach, R-Apple Valley, chairman of the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee, said Republicans "have grave concerns over Gov. Dayton's willingness to fully embrace the federal Obamacare."

He said he plans to hold hearings early next session on the issue and urged Dayton to partner with Republicans in opposing the federal program.

Language that would have blocked state money being spent to implement the health care overhaul until its constitutionality had been settled was removed in the final health and human services bill.

But that doesn't give Dayton the right to move ahead on the exchange plan without involving the Legislature, Hann said.

"He's acting as if the state of Minnesota was an administrative function of the federal government, and it isn't," he said.

Doug Belden can be reached at 651-228-5136.

41 problems with the [MN] Health and Human Services bill

by: The Big E Wed Apr 27, 2011 at 18:00:00 PM CDT

Republicans think it is important that the wealthy don't pay the same tax percentage as we do.  They believe that the wealthy are magical job creators who create more jobs when they don't pay as much in taxes.  To make sure that the wealthy don't pay their fair share, Republicans are proposing deep cuts in the Health and Human Services budget. Lucinda Jesson is the Commissioner of the Department of Human Services and today she outlined 41 concerns she has with the bill.  Here are a few of the highlights (or low-lights) of the damage Republicans want to do: Repeal of the expansion of Medical Assistance to adults without children. Prevent health care waivers and reforms from being implemented. Higher costs for enrollees in state health care programs. Eliminate "optional" services, including therapies, eyeglasses and prosthetics. Kick 7,600 people off of MinnCare. Stop complying with the Affordable Care Act. Eliminate waivers which provide a safety net for 5,800 disabled Minnesotans. Cuts to General Assistance. Eliminates tribal child welfare grants. Slashes grants for adults with mental illness. Slashes children's mental health grants. No funding for Minnesota sex offender program growth. Here is the letter concerning the disputed numbers. Here is the letter from Commissioner Jesson spelling out the 41 major concerns the department has with the HHS bill

The Big E :: 41 problems with the Health and Human Services bill

Tags: welfare, lucinda jesson, Affordable Care Act, minncare, disabled, general assistance, Poor, medicaid, Cuts, health and human services, HHS, deficit, budget, 2011 legislature, legislature,