proposed changes to EI... WTF?!?

Glendi2.0

I've spent the entire morning contacting my state leaders after my service coordinator informed me that fees for EI in Massachusetts are slated to increase April 1 by 700%. Seriously!?? On top of that, eligibility requirements are slated to become even more stringent, going from a 30% delay to a 50% delay. I'm so sad thinking about all the kids who'll be forced out of EI because of these ridiculous budget amendments who so desperately need it... hope other parts of the country aren't facing similar changes.

May.4.2007

Wow, maybe I'm just lucky or naive...but I thought EI services are free of cost?

I know my son's PT, OT, and speech are free to me (paid for by taxes, so obviously I do contribute to that). Our EI program is run through the school district, so this may be unique to my area (I'm in MN). 

I hope that there is at least some kind of assistance for EI if families are having to pay out of pocket for services...an increase like that could be devastating to alot of people, especially in this economy. How frustrating!

meghans30

What? This angers me so much. We pay high taxes here . . . 700%? I seriously hope something is done to stop this from happening. So many children will fall through the cracks only to cost cities and towns more money later because services were not given to them at a younger age. My oldest benifited hugely through EI and my youngest is up for a re-eval in March. He would never qaulify if he needs to have a 50% delay. Who do I need to contact about this?

meghans30

-auntie-:

The 50% delay is fairly consistant with what other states are doing. Many states already charge on sliding fees for EI services; NJ is one of them. At upper-middle class income fees approach out of pocket prices and many choose this route rather than accept luck of the draw.

What does it mean in terms of real dollars to your family?

Ma does charge a sliding scale fee based on income for services. I pay $150-200 a year for services. Very reasonable, and an increase is probably due, but 600%? That seems unreasonable.

susanmosley

So depressing!!!

meghans30

-auntie-:

meghans30:

-auntie-:

The 50% delay is fairly consistant with what other states are doing. Many states already charge on sliding fees for EI services; NJ is one of them. At upper-middle class income fees approach out of pocket prices and many choose this route rather than accept luck of the draw.

What does it mean in terms of real dollars to your family?

Ma does charge a sliding scale fee based on income for services. I pay $150-200 a year for services. Very reasonable, and an increase is probably due, but 600%? That seems unreasonable.

In other states, the higher percentage increases tend to be for the lower end of the scale. The family paying $2 is upped to a more realistic $10 or $12 but it's more sensational to focus on the 600% increase.

I hope you are right. I found this news release:

https://www.cbs3springfield.com/news/local/84997577.html on the proposed changes.

Glendi2.0

-auntie-:

What does it mean in terms of real dollars to your family?

Auntie, the 600% increase is across the board of the sliding scale fee program. We're at the high end of the scale- our rate will go from $500 annually to $3500 annually. We'd definitely be one of those families who'd be better off paying out-of-pocket for our pick of therapists rather than face the roulette wheel of EI therapists. That being said, we certainly don't have $3500 just lying around, so the increase stings no matter what your income level.

I have learned that if your child is up for re-eval, get the evaluation scheduled for before April 1, so you'll be "grandfathered" in with the old fee schedule. There is still a chance this may not pass, so please, if you're a MA resident, contact your officials!

Governor Deval Patrick
State House Room 360
Boston, MA  02133
phone: 617.725.4005

Ron Benham, Division Director
State Department of Public Health
Center for Community Health
250 Washington Street, Fourth Floor
Boston, MA 02108-4619
Phone: (617) 624-6060
Fax: (617) 624-5990
TTY: (617) 624-6062
Email: Ron.Benham@state.ma.us

 You can find your local senators/reps here: https://www.mass.gov/legis/city_town.htm

 

meghans30

Glendi:

-auntie-:

What does it mean in terms of real dollars to your family?

Auntie, the 600% increase is across the board of the sliding scale fee program. We're at the high end of the scale- our rate will go from $500 annually to $3500 annually. We'd definitely be one of those families who'd be better off paying out-of-pocket for our pick of therapists rather than face the roulette wheel of EI therapists. That being said, we certainly don't have $3500 just lying around, so the increase stings no matter what your income level.

I have learned that if your child is up for re-eval, get the evaluation scheduled for before April 1, so you'll be "grandfathered" in with the old fee schedule. There is still a chance this may not pass, so please, if you're a MA resident, contact your officials!

Governor Deval Patrick
State House Room 360
Boston, MA  02133
phone: 617.725.4005

Ron Benham, Division Director
State Department of Public Health
Center for Community Health
250 Washington Street, Fourth Floor
Boston, MA 02108-4619
Phone: (617) 624-6060
Fax: (617) 624-5990
TTY: (617) 624-6062
Email: Ron.Benham@state.ma.us

 You can find your local senators/reps here: https://www.mass.gov/legis/city_town.htm

 

I don't normally link things from other boards, but I posted this on the parenting board also. I added the link to my FB page and I'm going to write about it in my blog. I had no idea these changes were proposed, and I'm sure many others do not either. My youngest is up for a re-eval on March 26th.

Glendi2.0

I don't normally link things from other boards, but I posted this on the parenting board also. I added the link to my FB page and I'm going to write about it in my blog. I had no idea these changes were proposed, and I'm sure many others do not either. My youngest is up for a re-eval on March 26th.

Thanks so much! I've been feeling pretty helpless since hearing this news this morning... the fact of the matter is, we'll be okay. We'll find a way to make it work. My blood just boils, though, for all those kids on the cusp of eligibility, whose futures could very well depend on services, who may no longer qualify for or afford them. Spreading the word could be the key to getting this BS stopped!

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meghans30

Glendi:

I don't normally link things from other boards, but I posted this on the parenting board also. I added the link to my FB page and I'm going to write about it in my blog. I had no idea these changes were proposed, and I'm sure many others do not either. My youngest is up for a re-eval on March 26th.

Thanks so much! I've been feeling pretty helpless since hearing this news this morning... the fact of the matter is, we'll be okay. We'll find a way to make it work. My blood just boils, though, for all those kids on the cusp of eligibility, whose futures could very well depend on services, who may no longer qualify for or afford them. Spreading the word could be the key to getting this BS stopped!

I have no idea what we would have done without EI for Trevor. They gave us about 5 hours of services per week and towards the end we also sough speech services through our insurance at the cost of $20 per visit. He now recieves intensive therapy through the school system. If the 50% delay goes into effect, he would have been just on the cusp of eligibility. Kay would not qualify. I share your emotions.

Glendi2.0

InternetExplorer:

hmm, I'm a MA EI mom too and hadn't heard of this.  But the budgeting process being what it is, the Governor's budget is a jumping off place and is usually just a warning shot across the bow.  Not to worry just yet.

very true, but a specialized line item like this can go unnoticed by the masses for a long time, so the more publicity it gets early on in the process, the more likely it won't pass.

I also want to say that MA has a very generous list of conditions/dx that allow the child to automatically qualify for EI for three years. 

very true- but these aren't the kiddos I worry for. Sylvie herself has a dx that automatically qualifies her for services (ASD). I worry for the kid with a speech delay who, untreated, could end up struggling in a classroom, socially, cognitively. Ironically, it was Sylvie's EI therapists who brought the possibility of an Autism Spectrum Disorder to my attention very early on, and enabled us to get her diagnosed as early and she did and get the added services she's gained so much from. But she would certainly have not qualified for services when we originally had her evaluated early on. That's the thing with EI... executed properly, it's a great program for "catching" kids who might otherwise fall through the cracks or receive a developmental dx later on in life- but by then they've missed critical years of therapy. Sylvie's benefitted from getting intensive Autism-specific services since she was 22 months b/c of EI.

 Sorry to go on and on about this, but Sylvie is, in my mind, the poster child for why we need EI. I know her long-term prognosis is 1000% more promising because EI steered us in the direction we needed to go and got us there way more quickly than we would've gotten there ourselves.

meghans30

Glendi:

InternetExplorer:

hmm, I'm a MA EI mom too and hadn't heard of this.  But the budgeting process being what it is, the Governor's budget is a jumping off place and is usually just a warning shot across the bow.  Not to worry just yet.

very true, but a specialized line item like this can go unnoticed by the masses for a long time, so the more publicity it gets early on in the process, the more likely it won't pass.

I also want to say that MA has a very generous list of conditions/dx that allow the child to automatically qualify for EI for three years. 

very true- but these aren't the kiddos I worry for. Sylvie herself has a dx that automatically qualifies her for services (ASD). I worry for the kid with a speech delay who, untreated, could end up struggling in a classroom, socially, cognitively. Ironically, it was Sylvie's EI therapists who brought the possibility of an Autism Spectrum Disorder to my attention very early on, and enabled us to get her diagnosed as early and she did and get the added services she's gained so much from. But she would certainly have not qualified for services when we originally had her evaluated early on. That's the thing with EI... executed properly, it's a great program for "catching" kids who might otherwise fall through the cracks or receive a developmental dx later on in life- but by then they've missed critical years of therapy. Sylvie's benefitted from getting intensive Autism-specific services since she was 22 months b/c of EI.

 Sorry to go on and on about this, but Sylvie is, in my mind, the poster child for why we need EI. I know her long-term prognosis is 1000% more promising because EI steered us in the direction we needed to go and got us there way more quickly than we would've gotten there ourselves.

My sentiments exactly. I hope Deval sees things differently.

JenGK

This sounds a lot like what I confronted in VA with EI.  Based on our income, we had to pay the first $600/month OOP after any insurance coverage.  The SLP we had through EI was not very good and was more expensive than the one I lined up privately (if you can believe that), so I quickly dropped EI ST.

And, we needed delays of a certain percentage in two or more areas to even qualify in the first instance.  I've had much more luck getting services through the school district (no charge whatsoever) and was luckily able to start those once Zach turned 2.

harvest-wed

I work in MA EI, actually for the program that sent the letter that the family shows on that news clip.

 When that letter was sent the proposed increase was 600%, now the proposed inrease is 700%.

 The proposed change in delay is 40% in most areas, but a 50% delay in expressive language.  

One of my concerns is around higher functioning kids with ASD who are not identified as having ASD at their initial eval, if they can label a few pictures by 18 mos - 24 mos they won't qualify (using the Michigan which is most frequenlty used) based on expressive language.  If they get that ASD diagnosis they would then be eligible but there can be long wait lists to be seen and it sometimes takes working with a child for a little while before being able to bring something like that up with parents...these changes would be devastating to our states early intervention program.  Mass used to have one of the BEST programs in the country, I was able to see great results early, with kids catching up quickly compared to when I worked with PK kids in NH who is much more restrictive with their eligibility. 

meghans30

harvest-wed:

I work in MA EI, actually for the program that sent the letter that the family shows on that news clip.

 When that letter was sent the proposed increase was 600%, now the proposed inrease is 700%.

 The proposed change in delay is 40% in most areas, but a 50% delay in expressive language.  

One of my concerns is around higher functioning kids with ASD who are not identified as having ASD at their initial eval, if they can label a few pictures by 18 mos - 24 mos they won't qualify (using the Michigan which is most frequenlty used) based on expressive language.  If they get that ASD diagnosis they would then be eligible but there can be long wait lists to be seen and it sometimes takes working with a child for a little while before being able to bring something like that up with parents...these changes would be devastating to our states early intervention program.  Mass used to have one of the BEST programs in the country, I was able to see great results early, with kids catching up quickly compared to when I worked with PK kids in NH who is much more restrictive with their eligibility. 

My son's have/ are receiving services from THOM in Sfld. They are wonderful. It is just what you have expressed as a concern that I am worried about. My 2 yo, who has an expressive language delay would no longer be eligible.