NEWPORT, AR (KAIT) – About 3,000 Arkansans with
developmental disabilities are waiting to qualify for the state's Medicaid
Waiver program.
The program would allow them to cover the cost to seek
additional care, like moving into a group home.
The Jackson County Learning Center (JCLC) currently houses people
with special needs in group homes in Newport. The agency could house more, but
everyone eligible is stuck on that Medicaid Waiver waiting list.
"The waiting list right now is two- to three-thousand people
long," Glenda Rutledge-May said, "and will take two to three years if not more
for a person to come off of the waiting list and actually become eligible for
waiver services."
Rutledge-May serves
as the learning center's executive director. Her agency houses 14 people right
now in five group homes.
Three women with developmental disabilities live at the
Burton Group Home on Live Oak Drive in Newport, which is set to move to a house
on Melody Lane in the next few days.
This particular group home has enough room to take in
another woman, and there are plenty of applicants. The agency, however, can
accept none of them.
That's because they are all on a lengthy waiting list for
the Medicaid Waiver program.
"[The program] provides a reimbursement for the services
that we provide in the group homes," Rutledge-May said.
She says families paying for these services without the
waiver would be too costly for them, so some people are choosing to stay on the
waiting list for two to three years.
"With Medicaid reform that's coming down the pike,"
Rutledge-May said, "we are hoping that that is going to fix this problem."
She now hopes that legislators will cut the Medicaid Waiver
waiting list as part of their reform.
"It's an unfortunate process that we hope will get corrected."
Rutledge-May says removing the waiting list would make it
easier for those with special needs to access helpful services, like group
homes.
As lawmakers ponder eliminating that hurdle, Rutledge-May
can envision the JCLC opening additional homes in the future and possibly
hiring more employees to handle any growth.
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