In his disaster of a budget Gubnah Scott Walker moved to eliminate IRIS! No, not ISIS, that would require Wrong Way Walker to know where Syria is. IRIS is a state program that provides support for nearly 16,000 developmentally disabled, physically disabled or frail elderly citizens of The Badgered State who are financially eligible and have long-term care needs, helping them remain in the community and avoid institutionalization. Under the IRIS program these people get to manage their own care. They get to set their own priorities with the amount of funding they are provided. They get to hire, train and fire their own care providers, people that may perform personal care and hygiene services, cooking, cleaning, nursing. This gives them the freedom and choice (things the Republicons purport to believe in) to manage their own lives.
Under the budget, IRIS will be eliminated and people all over the state are in a panic because they depend on these services to keep them out of much more expensive institutions like nursing homes and no one seems to know exactly what will replace IRIS. It appears that the replacement program may use a managed care model, you know like an HMO and that insurance companies may be put in charge. That means the these neighbors of ours will lose their freedom to chose and direct their lives as those decisions will be made by others like case managers and bean counters. They may not be able to continue to see the doctors that they have chosen and worked with for years. Furthermore the people in our state who are working to provide these services to the disabled will lose their jobs.
Scott Walker's budget is horrible for Wisconsin and it's citizens and the elimination of IRIS is just one of the many reasons why!
Your opportunity to give your Gerrymandered "Representatives" Vos and Wanggaard an earful is coming.
Burlington Council Chambers
224 E. Jefferson Street, Burlington
Monday, March 23, 3 p.m.-4 p.m.
Community State Bank
925 15th Avenue, Union Grove
Monday, March 23, 5 p.m.-6 p.m.
Mount Pleasant Village Hall
8811 Campus Drive, Mount Pleasant
Monday, March 23, 7 p.m.-8 p.m.
2 comments:
This is way worse than I portrayed it above. Here is the link to today's 1:00 pm Kathleen Dunn Show on WPR: http://www.wpr.org/shows/proposed-overhaul-wisconsin-long-term-care
BTW WPR specifically and Public Broadcasting generally are also on Walker's Butcher Block. I believe that is more than about saving money, it's about stifling public debate and information, because for profit broadcasting, especially GOPster radio and what passes for local news on TV is not going to cover issues like with any depth at all. And that suits the Rulers just fine!
Some of the take away lessons from the Kathleen Dunn show linked above is that over 50,000 Wisconsin citizens who are disabled or frail elderly are served by our state's long-term care system that is a model for the nation built over 20-years of continuous improvement. Wrong Way Walker and his Health Services Chief can't even say what they're going to replace it with, except that we know it will likely be handed over to a big insurance company to run like a dictatorial HMO. Is this more Republicon quid pro quo privatization from The Great Divider to his donors in the insurance and nursing home industries? Almost certainly! If you'll recall one of Scooters moves in his first term was to make it illegal for nursing home state inspection records, PUBLIC RECORDS to be used in law suits over patient abuse, PREPOSTEROUS PANDERING!
But wait there's, there's always more. Many of these long term care recipients are served at aging and disability centers in each county. these centers provide other, non-long-term-care services for folks. they are also places where people can go to get out and socialize and many people volunteer at these centers to help their friends and neighbors. will these centers even continue to exist? And who the hell is going to volunteer for an impersonal, out of state insurance Profiteer?
Speaking of profiteers, suppose that after dismantling the Ain't Broke system we have, the insurance company decides that it's not getting the profits it wants, folds it's tent and leaves, THEN what? After Walker handed disability transportation services over to an out of state company, LogistiCare, the company squeezed out Mom & Pop firms who had been doing the job in counties all over the state just fine, thank you and left the state! http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/pi/logisticare-leaving-wisconsin-after-all-268ss1b-192588491.html
One would think that if a good manager was going to place a very successful program on the Chopping Block they would at least know with what and be able to articulate their new and improved idea. But the results are in, from the failure of Walker's WEDC to his epic jobs fail and beyond. Walker is not an effective manager, not a competent executive, not a good Governor. He's nothing but a Bad Butcher!
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