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Disabled numbers same, but service costs soar

As the waiting list for state-funded help grows, lawmakers wrestle with policy decisions an official blames for creating the problem.

TALLAHASSEE - The state is spending far more money to provide services to the same number of developmentally disabled people because providers increased the number of hours and days of service per person, according to an audit released Thursday.

As a result, the state is spending $114-million more on developmentally disabled clients this year without being able to serve more people while the list of people waiting for services gets larger, Department of Children and Families Secretary Jerry Regier told a Senate committee.

As soon as a new fiscal year began July 1, providers significantly increased the number of days and hours they were serving clients, taking advantage of changes in DCF policy that raised a cap on the amount of services each client can receive.

"We haven't continued to take people off the waiting list and that just begs the question of why not? The program is growing financially," Regier said. "We have to look to the needs of the clients and make sure that the needs are being met and not expanding that unnecessarily."

DCF conducted the audit after it reduced the rate it pays service providers in order to avoid a projected $30-million deficit. The department is waiting to see the effect of the lower rate before making any other adjustments, Regier told the committee.

Meanwhile, the waiting list for services grew from 7,864 clients two years ago to 13,589 this week.

Sen. Ron Klein called the numbers "troubling," but said the solution may be giving the program more money rather than just trying to make the system more efficient.

"At the end of the day it costs more to fund 13,500 people on a waiting list," said Klein, D-Boca Raton. "The phrase is that you can't throw money at the problem. Well, you know something? It takes money to take care of 6,000 more people (on the waiting list). Period. And that's just the difference over the last two years."

Regier said the department will also ask the Social Security Administration for a waiver that will allow it to provide limited services to clients on the waiting list, saying that in order to obtain federal money now, the state has to offer services on an "all-or-nothing" basis.