NC DHHS

If you missed Vos' presentation to the Joint Committee this morning (as I did), you can watch the video over the net here:

WRAL.com:
DHHS Secretary explains state of the agency

State Department of Health and Human Service Sec. Aldona Wos gives a presentation to the Joint Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services on the state of the agency after a week of scrutiny.

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I have been listening to the video online, and I have never seen a presentation like it in my days at the General Assembly. Overall impression: this woman is in way over her head.

folks who pay attention have been waiting for the mismanagement and un-management at DHHS to come to public attention for many years.

Now it has.

Link to the audit of DMA by State Auditor Beth Wood released at a press conference in Raleigh today:

http://www.ncauditor.net/EPSWeb/Reports/Performance/PER-2013-7291.pdf

I don't know how Gov. McCrory can flush out the many rats associated with DHHS and DMA. They've been bringing in their own for years.

Maybe if these Alzheimer's victims joined ALEC they'd get more sympathy:

"I think it's very time-sensitive," Rep. Nelson Dollar, one of the bill's sponsors, said Wednesday – one day before the money Perdue provided can no longer be accessed..."It's an issue that we'll deal with as we go forward," Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said. "I just don't know that what you're dealing with at this point is the kind of problem and scope of problem that seems to be described by some folks."

While Berger's reticence may be confusing to some, any farmer can tell you what's going on. It's called a pecking order, and it appears Phil Berger is using the mentally ill to teach a lesson to his House colleagues- "I'll decide what's a priority around here, not you."

And of course they aren't aware they're at risk:

Changes to state Medicaid rules that will cut benefits to group home residents across the state will also affect between 3,000 and 4,000 people with Alzheimer's disease who live in adult care facilities, sources close to state proceedings told WRAL News Wednesday.

I will freely admit that many of the issues I blog about are not from experience, but from research, the vast majority of which I glean from online sources. But this is one issue I learned about firsthand, and I will likely spend the rest of my life trying to repair the parts of my heart that broke as a result.

More chaff for the budget-cutters:

On Jan. 1, thousands of disabled people in group or adult care homes will no longer qualify for the services through Medicaid because the state considers them functional enough to live without them.

What a mess. Like many issues, this one could have been solved by allocating more resources through the Legislature. Oh, that's right. I forgot.

See a very brief AP report at WRAL.com about a ruling on Thursday by a federal judge in NC on a Medicaid waiver dispute between PBH in Cabarrus County and three disability advocacy groups.

The lead in the WRAL story names five counties that would be directly affected, but in fact all counties in the state will eventually be impacted, if the judge rules on the case in favor of the advocacy groups. The three advocacy groups' attorneys are representing PBH clients in that Local Management Entity's(LME's)area.

I have been told by candidates for state and local office not to talk about DHHS and the needs of folks with disabilities. The prevailing attitude is that this is not a popular topic with voters, and certainly not nearly as popular as education issues.

However, the unholy mess that NC DHHS has created deserves our attention, particularly now in election season.

Taking partisan politics to a new level of stupidity:

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx railed against the state Department of Health and Human Services from the floor of the U.S. House chamber last week, saying it was wasting national taxpayers' money.

If you were the type of politician who actually tried to help your constituents, I'd say that comment was foolish, since it would make it harder for you to get funding for our future needs. But not only do you not try to help us, you actually try to take food out of the mouths of NC's children:

Homelessness for some mentally ill could be just around the corner:

In the latest turn of events, federal Medicaid regulators have warned the state that it may be in violation of a rule that limits how many mentally ill patients can be housed in rest homes and assisted-living centers mostly serving the elderly.

Advocates for the mentally ill fear, with good reason, that the displaced could join the ranks of the homeless or end up in jails.

And to think, there are still those who believe privatization is the cure for this. That fantasy itself should have a few pages in the DSM IV describing it.

Richard Morgan's complaint against Sec. Lanier Cansler for ethics violation is dismissed

FROM UNDER THE DOME
Ethics board tosses complaint against Cansler: Raleigh N&O
Submitted by mbieseck on 2011-02-11 15:41

Tags: Under the Dome | Lanier Cansler

The State Ethics Commission has dismissed a complaint filed against state Health and Human Services Sec. Lanier Cansler over the awarding of no-bid contracts to former lobbying clients.

I have written a couple of articles this week that I think deserve your attention. You can read the articles at www.examiner.com/Raleigh/politics.

If you care not a twit about folks with disabilities (which is the case with most legislators), at least consider that another lawsuit settlement like the ones with Thomas S and Willie M could be a "budget buster."

The Institute of Medicine released its report on the adult care situation in late January. The report includes a list of recommendations for the legislators to consider this session. The report was done at taxpayers' expense.