Natalie Gunnells had finally secured some assistance from Mississippi’s political class for her 23-year-old son Patrick, who has severe autism.
No sooner had she started receiving relief from the state’s Medicaid agency than her local lawmaker accused her of supporting his political opponent, delivering an ominous warning.
“You’re not in line, you’re not in sync to help you and your family,” said the local senator.
Patrick is one of 2,750 Mississippians on a special Medicaid program that is supposed to provide outpatient services to people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, known as the IDD waiver. The purpose of the waiver — a roughly $125 million-a-year program funded mostly by the federal government but administered by state agencies — is to allow this vulnerable population to live in the community as opposed to an inpatient facility.
But even though he receives the waiver, Patrick has for years lacked a caregiver or specialist.
“I’m telling you this waiver is designed to fail. You don’t fail this many people year, after year, after year if it is not designed to fail,” Natalie Gunnells said at a community meeting in February.
Without the specialized behavioral therapy that he is eligible to receive, Patrick’s potential is unknown. Patrick is nonverbal and cannot perform normal tasks, like using the bathroom on his own. When he was a child, his parents fought for him to receive the special education he was entitled to at the public school. These days,...
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