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Urgent: Kansas Budget Falls Short! More Funding Needed to Fix the 11-Year Disability Waitlist Crisis!
*If you already took action – THANK YOU and PLEASE take action AGAIN! This alert sends a NEW email with an updated ask. The new email has an updated request given the current state of the House and Senate budget bills and the latest number of new slots needed.*
Kansans with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) and Physical Disabilities (PD) are forced to suffer and wait for up to 11 years to access essential, life-sustaining Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) under the Medicaid Waiver program. The waitlist for Kansans with I/DD has skyrocketed to around 5,200 Kansans waiting – a nearly 70% increase over the last 10 years alone! The waitlist for Kansans with PD has also surged to 2,362. Not long ago, Kansas had NO waiting lists for these essential services!
The Kansas Legislature votes THIS WEEK on the budget. Your emails are helping! The House and Senate added SOME new funding, but NOT ENOUGH to reduce the waitlist! The House Committee recommended 500 new slots for the I/DD Waiver. The Senate Committee recommended 250 slots. Unfortunately, the I/DD waitlist WILL GROW under both proposals! Last year, the I/DD waitlist grew by 561. The House’s 500 slots will NOT even keep up with that level growth! That means under both proposals the I/DD waitlist will get LONGER! That's why we need at least 1,000 new I/DD slots (500 more than the House and 750 more than the Senate) to be added! Doing that would reduce the waitlist and wait times on the I/DD waitlist by nearly 30%!
Getting to 1,000 new slots on the I/DD Waiver (adding 500 to the House bill and 750 to the Senate bill) would serve all Kansans with I/DD who have been waiting since June of 2016! It would reduce the waitlist from 11 years to only 8 years – a nearly 30% reduction in wait times! This would also be the first step in a five-year plan to Eliminate the Wait for HCBS!
Kansas has proven that it can reduce waitlists by well over 1,000 at one time. Kansas successfully removed 1,744 people from the IDD underserved waitlist in a single year in 2014.
The KS Leg is VOTING on the budget THIS WEEK. Click the “Take Action” button below and tell your State Rep and Senator to do the right thing and add funding to address the out-of-control disability waitlists!
Thank you for using your voice to support this vital issue! Together, we can Eliminate the Wait for HCBS!
Tell the Kansas Legislature: Bold Action is Needed Now to Address the Out-of-Control HCBS Waitlists in Kansas!
The waitlists for Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) and Physical Disabilities (PD) Home and Community Based Service (HCBS) waiver services in Kansas have reached a crisis point, and it is time for us to make our voices heard! As a valued member of the disability community, we are asking YOU to join us in taking collective action on this issue. Tell the Kansas Legislature it is time to act and appropriate funding to reduce the HCBS waiver waitlists in Kansas by 20%! A 20% reduction in the HCBS waitlists would have a meaningful impact, taking 1,100 people off the I/DD waitlist and nearly 500 people off the PD waitlist.
The I/DD HCBS Waiver Waitlist has surged to 5,046 individuals, with waits of up to 15 years. The PD HCBS Waiver Waitlist stands at 2,349. 15-20 years ago when Kansas had virtually no waiting lists for these essential services.
The disability community in Kansas is coming together to advocate for change! We're asking for just 30 seconds of your time. Use this form to send a strong message to the Kansas Legislature. Tell them we need bold action right now to tackle Kansas's out-of-control HCBS waiting lists. Our voices matter, and by joining together, we can make a difference. Thank you for taking the time to advocate for our community!