Crowd Protests Cuts In Medicaid In Boise, Panel Looks For Ways To Trim Health Care Budget

Steve Allert sat in his wheelchair in the rain Monday and pushed his twisted 46-year-old body to communicate his anger at proposed cutbacks in Idaho’s Medicaid program.

Since birth, cerebral palsy has robbed Allert’s body from working with his sharp mind. With effort, he pointed his curled fingers at charts of words, numbers and letters that allow him to talk.

“Advocate 4 people 4 r-i-g-h-t-s,” Allert spelled out, tipping his head back in sheer joy when his message was acknowledged.

Allert - who taught his care provider how to use a computer - was one of about 80 people at a rally Monday protesting proposed cuts in Medicaid programs. Allert worries that state budget writers will cut into the programs that helped him rent his own home, earn enough money to buy a van and take himself on summer afternoon trips to City Park.

Karen Dyer, a personal care services provider, says she fears cuts could thrust Idaho back to days when developmentally disabled people were hidden by parents or lived their whole lives in institutions.

State lawmakers “are cutting this money from the most vulnerable segment of our society,” Dyer said. “They are taking it from our disabled, the very people who cannot fight back.”

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s proposed budget for Medicaid next year is $27 million below the Health and Welfare Department’s request. Kempthorne said he wanted efficiencies rather than cuts in services, but he offered lawmakers no guidance on where to find those cost-savings.

In Boise Monday, the Legislature’s budget committee heard a report from its subcommittee that’s been studying how to trim the growth in the joint federal-state program that provides health care to poor and disabled residents.

But the committee didn’t reach any conclusions.

“What I heard today was inconclusive,” said Sen. Clyde Boatright, R-Rathdrum. “We didn’t get anyplace.”

The panel will continue the discussion again this morning, but won’t make any final decisions until it sets the Health and Welfare budget, which is at least a week away.

“I’m still not sure what we’re going to be able to do and how many dollars will be saved,” said Sen. Robert Lee, R-Rexburg, who headed the subcommittee. “But we’re going to have to make some tough decisions, I think.”

The people at the rally at the Health and Welfare office building in Coeur d’Alene made it clear that those “tough decisions” should not be made at the expense of developmentally disabled residents.

The group carried signs that read: “Stop disabling the services,” and “Think of people not just $s.”

Many of their pointed comments were directed at Kempthorne.

“He doesn’t want to take the blame. He is being leaderless,” said Mike Nally, who helped organize the rally. “The Legislature has some people who are trying to get the job done, but they are getting some bad advice.”

Kempthorne spokesman Mark Snider said the governor is simply trying to get a handle on rising Medicaid costs.

“The governor has increased Health and Welfare Department’s budget and the Legislature is now working at ways we can maintain or improve services, but contain costs,” Snider said.

In his budget, Kempthorne recommended no funding for about $25.6 million in federally required increases for Medicaid providers and services.

How lawmakers make up for that shortfall is up to them, Snider said.

One of the loudest opponents Monday was former state Rep. Janet Jenkins, D-Coeur d’Alene.

Jenkins, who has a son with disabilities, shouted “We are the voice of the disabled. Hear us Boise.”

She challenged her former colleagues to continue funding for needed programs.

“If you approve Medicaid cuts, you are going to destroy families,” she said.

Dyer said her own family is an example.

The state pays $100 a day for her and her husband, Dan, to house 27-year-old Joshua Colbert.

They took him in five years ago after he had been turned out of a half dozen institutions because of his violent behavior and abusive language.

Within a year, Colbert - who reads at an 11th-grade level but can’t tie his shoes - was interacting with other people at TESH Inc., a nonprofit organization that teaches developmentally disabled people skills to work and live independently.

Now Colbert works three hours a week stocking shelves at Albertsons. He uses the $46.36 from his paychecks to buy one of his favorite foods - hamburgers.

“These programs help him to be an active, functioning member of society,” she said.

The $100 a day pays Dyers for providing a home. It also covers transportation, community activities and for a person - called a targeted service coordinator - who helps the Dyers find all the programs that can help Colbert.

She fears changes would leave just enough money to keep Colbert at home, she said.

“But what it’s doing is taking choices away,” Dyer said. “It will destroy what Joshua has worked to accomplish.”