Governor Brownback;
Are you listening? Can you hear the collective plea coming from the community of disabled Kansans and their families? Can you feel the primal passion? Do you know what it is like to be different? To be disabled?
Your insistence upon including long-term care services for the disabled in your privatization of the Kansas Medicaid system is insensitive, ill-informed and disturbing. Your form letters and your repeated mantra “we have heard no compelling reason to carve out” our services are only serving to stimulate and galvanize our community into action. In the end, we are determined to convince you that this revenue neutral request is in the best interest of both government and client.
The current Kansas model for serving the disabled is efficient both structurally and financially; and effective in serving clients’ needs. The “proposed new model” KanCare is fraught with peril and risk. $2.9 billion is being transferred to insurance companies. The primary but unspoken objective is $850,000,000 in cost savings. Mr. Sullivan has stated that cddo’s and case managers will be retained, according to the current model. Unfortunately, under the management of insurance companies, the priorities will drastically change! The effects will be: additional complexity of administration (adding a layer of management), a new layer of cost (insurance company profits), leading to decreased supports and services for those who need them most.
Can you imagine the effect of profit incentives for the insurance companies to reduce spending? The administration points to improving health outcomes via manages care, but you fail to mention the underlying but central driving force behind this initiative: cost savings. FACT: the annul spending per dd client served has actually declined from $49M in 1993, to $41M currently. This is a population that is actually underfunded as witnessed by the 5,000 qualified but unfunded persons on the waiting list. For decades, Kansas has been a national leader in serving the DD community. In structure and in efficiency of spending. Dismantling this model and transferring responsibility to the insurance industry would represent a massive step backwards and in the wrong direction.
Have you evaluated what is happening in Kentucky under their new system of managed care? Are you prepared for the potential complexity, confusion, legal actions, dissatisfaction among your constituents both providers and patients and other implications, all of which are being experienced in Kentucky?
Do you know what it is like to have a person of special needs living in your home? Have you ever visited a group home or day center workplace? Please consider; you may attain great perspective by investing a small amount of time.
In summary, the informed people within the community of the disabled are simply seeking to exclude long-term care services from this potential fiasco. This “carve out” would be revenue neutral, but would have tremendous benefit to the DD community.
Are we seeking to fix something that is not broken?
Respectfully;
Ray Rollins
Overland Park, KS
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