{"id":3026,"date":"2023-06-16T20:13:14","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T20:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/?p=3026"},"modified":"2023-06-16T20:13:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T20:13:15","slug":"for-immediate-release-survival-coalition-sees-dhs-state-budget-as-beginning-to-address-needs-of-disability-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/2023\/updates\/for-immediate-release-survival-coalition-sees-dhs-state-budget-as-beginning-to-address-needs-of-disability-community\/","title":{"rendered":"For Immediate Release: Survival Coalition Sees DHS State Budget as Beginning to Address Needs of Disability Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>The Legislature\u2019s Joint Finance Committee last night voted on disability priorities in the Department of Health Services (DHS) section of the state budget that takes some first steps toward addressing the most pressing needs of the disability community: adequate supports to live in their homes and communities and freedom from abuse and neglect. Another critical issue&#8211; mental health supports&#8211;were mostly left out of the budget, and it is Survival Coalition\u2019s hope that mental health and other important initiatives can move as stand-alone bills in the months ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe vote demonstrates recognition of concerns advocates have been expressing for decades and potentially a start to more re-investments that ensure Wisconsinites of all ages and abilities have access to the right care, at the right time and in the place, they most often prefer \u2013 in their own home,\u201d said Patti Becker, Survival Coalition co-chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among actions Joint Finance took:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Continued the 5% increase for Home and Community Based Services providers that were initially part of federal pandemic response legislation. These increases impact providers in Family Care, IRIS, and Children\u2019s Long Term Support Services (CLTS) waivers.<\/li><li>Increases of 5% for&nbsp; direct care workers in Family Care. However, no increases for IRIS participant-hired workers.<\/li><li>Increase of 4.3% to the Medical Assistance Personal Care Services<\/li><li>Requirements that Family Care managed care organizations report publicly amount of care needed (authorized hours) and the amount of care provided by service category and MCO, thus quantifying unmet needs.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Legislature\u2019s attention to the direct care crisis through rate increases and better quantifying the state\u2019s needs are important initial investments,\u201d said Beth Swedeen, Survival co-chair. \u201cWith average direct care worker wages in the state of $13.53\/hr. and fewer than half earning benefits, we have a long way to go in paying the true cost of care.\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Survival_DSHbudget_FINAL_June16.pdf\">Read full press release here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Legislature\u2019s Joint Finance Committee last night voted on disability priorities in the Department of Health Services (DHS) section of the state budget that takes some first steps toward addressing the most pressing needs of the disability community: adequate supports to live in their homes and communities and freedom from abuse and neglect. Another critical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3026"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3026"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3029,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3026\/revisions\/3029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}