so this is not going to directly effect us in this household. However if you read "if a family loses community supports as the result of the loss of Medical Assistance, and this results in the institutionalization of a child, Medical Assistance will HAVE TO pick up the cost of that child's institutional care once the child has been out of the parents' home for 1 month! This is required by
current federal law which the State cannot change. The cost of that institutional care is most likely to be much more expensive than the community based supports the child could have received had Medical Assistance not been cut." This will effect everyone...
as well as this: "In addition, this proposed cut is likely to reduce the amount of federal funds currently available to many school districts for special education. Currently, school districts and IUs in Pennsylvania are eligible to participate in a special funding program run by the PA Department of Education called "Access". Under this program, school districts can bill the State for certain special education costs incurred for students on Medical Assistance. These
costs are then billed by the Department of Education to Medical Assistance which in turn draws down federal matching money. That federal matching money is then returned to the school districts. Since the federal government only provides matching funds for those
students who are on Medical Assistance, the fewer students on Medical Assistance, the less federal money school districts will get. Because the school districts would still have a legal obligation to provide special education services, the reduction in
federal funds will force school districts to make up the revenue shortfall from other sources, including possibly tax increases."
So weather or not the income cap is an issue in your situation the special education federal dollars and the cost to institutionalize is also an issue that will effect everyone who has a child with a disability of any kind. It's that wording that scares me most not the income caps. I don't know of anyone who makes $100,000.00 (however they are not specifically saying saying earned income either). They could be adding other things to that income cap though, IRA's value of your home, cars etc etc so it can get sticky for some.
Be At Peace,
Deborah Delp
Mommy to Samantha (NT) and Jr (ASD)
What we do with our lives depends on our
motivation to do something with our lives.
D.A.Delp
Homepage:
http://the_delps.tripod.com/
Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/autism_and_vaccinations
