A $50 million projected budget overage flagged last month isn’t as bad as first thought, but fixing it will still affect services for developmentally disabled people that allow them to live outside of institutions.
The cuts, many of which have already taken place or will on Dec. 7, will slash payments to care providers and eliminate some of the services covered.
The problem threatens to outspend the program’s budget by February or March, officials from the Department of Health and Human Services told the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs last month.
On Thursday, the Appropriations Committee heard that the estimated overage has shrunk to about $29.9 million. Brenda Harvey, commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services, said that gap will be painful to bridge, nonetheless.
“This will get us to budget,” she told the committee. “The state will continue taking care of its people… but there’s no pretending there is not a lot of pain in this transition.”
The Home and Community Based Waiver system serves 2881 developmentally disabled Mainers living in group homes, shared living arrangements or with their families. The program began in 1982 with an enrollment of 200 people as a move away from institutional care in Maine. It now has a budget of about $235 million, 64 percent of which is federal funding.
To eliminate the budget shortfall, the department has taken the following steps:
•Ten percent reduction in payments for home supports, effective Dec. 7;
•Ten percent reduction in coverage of medical add-ons, effective Dec. 7;
•Elimination of coverage of behavioral add-ons, effective Dec. 7;
•The system of billing in 15-minute increments will be eliminated for people receiving per-diem home support;
•The program, which had a waiting list recently of 69 people, is closed to new admissions; and,
•New service requests will undergo a more rigorous approval process.
These cuts come as state departments scramble to enact $80 million in spending reductions ordered last week because of a revenue shortfall that on Friday was estimated to be $140 million.
Deeper cuts contained in a supplemental budget proposal being developed by Gov. John Baldacci will be debated by the Legislature when it convenes in January.
Harvey said an effort would be made to avoid hitting the same budget lines again.
Asked what caused the problem, Harvey cited a change in the reimbursement method and approximately 156 new clients joining the program per year.
“This waiver program has been costing more and more each year,” she said. “We think we have taken a very conservative approach in bringing this back.”
(Statehouse News Service)
