Letter to the Editor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The NCGA continues its political shenanigans and disregard for our state’s most vulnerable children and young adults. This week, the airspace has been filled with news about the $248 million it is appropriating for Opportunity Scholarships to pay for private school for families on a waitlist; by 2032 up to $825 million may be allocated for these privileges.

But WAIT: what’s the NCGA doing about the 17,000 children and families on the waitlist for the Medicaid Innovations Waiver? Their lives are defined by significant intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their futures hang in the balance without the essential life support services they are owed.

My 25-year-old friend who lives right here in Chapel Hill has been on the Medicaid Innovations Waiver waitlist for 10 years – since he was 15.

Get this: There is a backlog of applications for the Medicaid Waiver at NC DHHS from 2007, so it is more than likely that some of the people on the waitlist will die before the system reviews their case.

What is our state doing to expedite the processing of THIS waitlist? Why isn’t the media shining a glaring spotlight on this glaring omission?

This is a not a partisan issue; it is a human rights issue, a civil rights issue, and an ethical and moral imperative.

-Isabel R Geffner (irgeffner@gmail.com)