Quote:
Lawmakers are considering cutting all services for nearly 26,000 people with disabilities as South Carolina tries to plug a $560 million budget hole...
Mary Bennett, a single mother of three, said the budget cuts would mean sending her 11-year-old autistic son to an institution or giving up her job at a Columbia program that helps parents like her. Her son goes to public school a few days a week and a state-funded program cares for him the other days...
Advocates say the cuts will make it tougher for people to survive or thrive: No more door-widening or ramps for people using wheelchairs; parents caring for adult children with disabilities would lose day care programs where they learn basic skills and earn a little money; 48 percent of the state's Medicaid recipients would lose prescription coverage as the state imposes a three-drug cap instead of the current maximum of 10.
|
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100303/...F5Z3V0cHJvZw--
According to this article, many developmentally disabled and autistic children and adults would have to be institutinalized as a result of the spending cuts. This seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Surely, the cost of institutional care is far more than day care. And cutting prescription benefits will only make people sicker and more likely to turn up in ER's.
