To: West Virginia DHHR, WV Bureau of Medical Services, HCBS Unit, The West Virginia State House, The West Virginia State Senate, and Governor Jim Justice
Petition to Stop Harmful Major Changes to the 2015 West Virginia Aged & Disabled Waiver
Stop Major Changes to the 2015 WV Aged & Disabled Waiver that would have serious negative consequences for thousands West Virginians.
We want to maintain a Home and Community Based Service Waiver program that invests adequate funding for services that support the aged and people with disabilities to live in their own homes and communities and eliminates much more costly institutionalization. We oppose the changes that limit, reduce, and remove services and caps of any hours, mileage, or services to people with disabilities.
Specifically, we ask WV DHHR:
1. Keep the Participant Directed Goods and Services (PDGS) Service within the Personal Options model, expand this allotment to no less than 15% of a Participant's Annual Budget, and provide a similar service within the Traditional Agency Model
2. Offer assistance to people in application / financial eligibility process but, do NOT attempt to force Personal Options Participants to accept or pay for costly mandatory additional 'Case Management' services they neither want nor need
3. Do not place any 'blanket' cap on transportation mileage, which would fail to account for individual participant's needs & service plans and would have a disproportionate negative impact for citizens living in rural areas
Why is this important?
Harmful Proposed Major Changes would:
1. prevent myself, and many other Aged & Disabled West Virginians, from being able to acquire (from our own budgets) necessary items (like wheelchair tires/parts, special mobility devices allowing safe winter travel, adaptive bathroom and emergency evacuation safety devices, etc) that are approved and needed but are NOT covered by traditional medicaid.
2. would force myself and many others to accept and pay for costly and intrusive 'Case Management' Services we neither want nor need.
3. would leave over 25% of participants with less mileage allotments then they require to meet their needs, taking away their 'life line' to the community, and disproportionately negatively affecting citizens in more rural areas.
4. Because the WV DHHR - Home Community Based Services Office misrepresented, under-reported, and then took no actions to resolve concerns reported to them during the official public comment period.
Full Details are available here:
http://tinyurl.com/StopHarmful2015WV-ADWchanges