No Cuts to Home and Community-Based Services During the 82nd Texas Legislative Session!

We support home and community-based services and supports for people with disabilities and seniors.  We call on the 82nd Texas Legislature to oppose any cuts to these critical supports and to fully fund all services that allow people with disabilities and seniors to live with dignity in the community.

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WE BELIEVE:

• Aging and disability community services are necessary and promote “aging in place”, community inclusion, improved quality of life, higher productivity, better health and wellness, fewer visits to emergency rooms and hospitals, and the ability to live as independently as possible.

• Short-term budget cuts to community services will lead to unnecessary institutionalization, increasing the overall cost to the Texas long-term services and supports system and to Texas taxpayers.  Cuts to community services are “penny wise and pound foolish”. 

• Any budget reductions should be directed toward administrative efficiencies, not reducing direct services to consumers.   Examples of potential efficiencies include streamlining bureaucracy, creating uniform contracting, and developing common service definitions across all Medicaid waivers.

• Consumer Directed/Self-Determined and Person-Centered community programs can save dollars and enhance agency-delivered services.

• Better utilization of the resources provided by local aging and disability organizations resources will improve access to community services.

• Initial assessments and hospital or facility discharge planning procedures that prioritize community services over institutional placement will save dollars by avoiding unnecessary placement in nursing homes and ICF-MR facilities.

• Higher wages and benefits for community attendants will lower turnover, reduce worker shortages, and improve the quality of community services provided.

• Community services create jobs and simulate the Texas economy; community attendants spend millions of dollars each year in local cities across the state.

• The Texas Health and Human Services Commission should develop a long-range plan for aging and disability services that responds to the growing desire across all demographics for services in the community, rather than in nursing homes or other institutions. 

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This petition is sponsored by the Invest in Community! campaign, a coalition of organizations, families, and advocates concerned about the impact of proposed Texas budget cuts to community-based services for seniors and persons with disabilities.  For more information or to sign and distribute a paper copy of this petition, contact stoptexascuts@gmail.com