Jumping off a Bridge...

Sorry it took me time to post this, we had a busy weekend, but I did go to the hearing on the proposed family cost sharing. It was a little unsettling. I asked several questions, and feel uneasy about the answers I have received.

I asked how the state plans to meet the EPSDT requirements for children on AHCCCS and DDD if this is instituted, the answer was that AHCCCS would just take over the EPSDT required therapies. I first pointed out that I could not find any documentation in their policy that states this, and asked them to redirect me if I missed it, they didn't. I also asked what the transition plan would be for the children migrating their services to AHCCCS, it turns out there isn't one. Disturbing to say the least. I asked if they expected parents to figure this out on their own because I sure couldn't, AHCCCS told me they didn't know what I was talking about when I've called them in the past and asked them to transition services when this all began, they didn't know what I was talking about. They admitted I had a point and were going to "check into it"

I pointed out that there is a lot of rhetoric being discussed by politicians about helping the middle class, and that this is a policy that not only is directed at the middle class, but will burden the middle class exclusively and that isn't appropriate either.

I asked them if they had done a cost benefit analysis and assessed the pros and cons of instituting this program in AZ. The answer I got is that they looked at "other states", some broke even, some lost money, and some gained (not sure there was another option). I asked exactly what states, they couldn't recall all of them, they told me were New Jersey, South Carolina, and Utah to name a few, there were 13 in total. Also being a former Human Resources Professional, I asked them if they specifically looked at ARIZONA. Would the benefits outweigh the costs in ARIZONA. The answer was no, they had not assessed the impact it would have in the state of Arizona. I know from working at multi state companies that you can look at the work, you can look at the time it takes someone to do a task someplace else, but to REALLY REALLY assess the cost of something, you need to take the information of staffing hours, benefits, time off from other tasks, and the extra time it takes to do those tasks as well as the new ones in addition to the time effort and dollars to get something like this running (training staff, updating providers, extra time spent with families by staff, extra time staff has to take to be on the phone explaining things to a number of people) not to mention handling any legal opposition, and plug that into pay and benefits for staff in ARIZONA. We have different demographics, we have different standards of living, we have different geography, we a differently type of system all together, it is unrealistic to think you can just copy what other states are doing and assume it will work for you too. It won't work. Anybody in a corporate environment can tell you that.

Never mind the uneasy possibility that the state is somehow looking to make money off disabled children and their families.

It reminded me of an old saying I constantly heard as a child when I wanted to do what the "other kids" were doing.

"If you're friends wanted to jump off a bridge without looking down would you do it too?"

I have the uneasy feeling the state is wanting to jump off that bridge without looking down, just because the other states are doing it too.