A quiet genocide of the disabled in America

https://goo.gl/hmqnt8

It’s important to realize that Trump and his administration have made it perfectly clear that the most vulnerable Americans — starting with the disabled — are not among his top priorities because…dare I say it — we made his life a living hell while he was running for President. And no one should ever, ever cross him or else. Now, thanks to his election, insurance companies, state-funded programs, and anyone in charge of moving policy that helps the most vulnerable are bracing for major changes. Many are leaving their positions or fall into a state of paperwork paralysis.

Insurance companies deny procedures, equipment, and medicine because they know that by the time consumers get through an appeal process, their Obamacare or the patient, whichever comes first, will be dead and gone.

State-funded PCA waiver programs are happy to implement “cost saving” new rules, like adding on a 3.5-hour mandated training for new personal care attendants who work for $9.50/hour with no benefits before they are hired. It’s like asking a person who is about to apply for a job at McDonald’s to go to a 3.5 hour, UNPAID, training BEFORE filling out an application.

Or, my favorite, Electronic Visit Verification rules that mandate a PCA and clients get geo-tracked to ensure that they are signing in and out at the exact time stated on their already scrutinized time sheets (sounds a little like house arrest to me). While these moves wouldn’t have gotten a lot of backing before Trump was in office, now, conservative agencies can start pulling this crap because they know that they have the upper-hand and backing from Tom Price, Health and Human Services Secretary, to do so. When people like myself face this kind of undue burden, we can’t find help. When we can’t find help, we either end up in a nursing home or we die.


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