More aid for disabled sought

At nearly 2,000 people and growing, the list of Utahns with disabilities who qualify for services is a situation that needs serious attention from lawmakers, the director of the state Department of Human Services said Wednesday.

Lisa-Michele Church told members of the Health and Human Services Interim Committee it was time for a frank discussion of the problem and an exploration of possible solutions, especially guidance on the best way to prioritize requests for assistance.

"There are no easy answers," she said. "That's exactly why I'm here before you."

The waiting list, which the state has never fully funded despite universal agreement that the people on it deserve help, has perplexed lawmakers and angered advocates for the disabled for years. In a lawsuit filed in 2003, the Disability Law Center in Salt Lake City claimed the state in effect increases unnecessary institutionalization and violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, not to mention the Supreme Court's Olmstead ruling that declares unnecessary institutionalization is a form of discrimination against people with disabilities.

An audit completed in 2002 by the legislative auditor general found that the state had been doing a poor job of tracking who should be on the list. In a random sampling of people on it, auditors found names of individuals who were dead, some who had moved from the state and others who no longer needed services.

The division has since made several improvements, but solutions remain illusive. Most of the people on the waiting list are eligible under Medicaid, the joint state and federal insurance program, to obtain services with "reasonable promptness." For most Medicaid services, that means within 90 days. Most of the people on the list have been waiting more than two years, and a few as long as 10 years.

Church on Wednesday offered six possible improvement options for lawmakers to consider. "I realize that none of these come without a price and I'm not recommending any of them directly," she said.

By continuing on the current path, which has allowed the division to shrink the list by about 250 people in the past year, the state will never make any serious progress, she said. Other options are:

• Allocate more funds to the division. But if this is done with an eye to serving the most critical people on the list first, Church said, the condition of those people waiting for less serious services, such as respite care, will deteriorate and require more costly services later.