Writing in the Rochester [New York] Times Union, James Flanigan says the Bush administration has been working behind the scenes to dismantle hard-won protections for people with disabilities by making drastic cuts in Medicaid funding.

Knowing that Congress would never approve such cuts in the normal budget process, the administration has used a series of proposed regulations issued through the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services to make technical changes that would result in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. These changes were released when Congress was not in session.

It appears the Bush administration hoped its cuts would go unnoticed, underreported or misunderstood by the public and the press.

… In recent months, the Times Union’s opinion pages have seen a growing volume of letters, op-ed columns and editorials expressing varying views on the legacy of the Bush years. Hopefully, the final listing of Bush “accomplishments” will not include destruction of community-based services for people with disabilities.

Flanigan is executive director of the Renssalaer ARC.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 10:51 am and is filed under Medicaid/Medicare, NOT2BEMISSED, institutionalization, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post