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Group Suing State Over Funding Cuts

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By LINDSAY PETERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 13, 2009

A state advocacy group has sued the state over funding cuts to programs for people with mental disabilities.

The Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, in Tallahassee, filed the lawsuit in the 2nd Judicial Circuit against the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities. It says that the cuts will cause the plaintiffs and about 3,600 others to lose needed medical care and suffer "immediate irreparable harm."

The center also says the state has refused thousands of disabled people a hearing on whether the cuts are justified.

Two years ago, the Legislature devised a plan to cap payments to thousands of people in the state's Medicaid program for the developmentally disabled. The purpose of the program is to enable people to care for family members with mental disabilities at home.

Previously, payments were based on what each disabled person needed, as determined by medical assessments. But under the new system, only those deemed to have the most serious disabilities would continue to receive unlimited benefits. The others would be limited to between $15,000 and $55,000 per year, depending on their group assignment.

For many people caring for a family member with a mental disability, the payments were cut by half.
One of the plaintiffs is Francesca Correa, a 19-year-old woman who is has severe autism and lives with her family. She has been denied a hearing, said the Advocacy Center, but her twin sister, who also has severe autism, has been granted a hearing.

Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834.

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