ODDC Banner

How we got to this point...

Ohio has underfunded MRDD services for the past decade.

Result: Below standard supports and services, as pointed out by federal inspectors in the recent Medicaid report, and inadequate wages to provider employees.

Ohio has not met its constitutional duty to provide residential care for adults with MRDD.

Result: Thousands of people are stuck on waiting lists that are not moving, and County Boards must divert local levy dollars to fund emergency residential services.

Ohio has not taken full advantage of the federal Medicaid funds available for residential care.

Result: Millions of federal dollars that Ohio citizens with MRDD are entitled to are lost each day.

Ohio's leading MRDD professional and advocacy organizations have developed a comprehensive plan to:

Substantially reduce waiting lists
Fix the problems in the system
Bring to Ohio a significant amount of additional federal Medicaid funds.

Waiting List Coalition's Enhanced MRDD Budget Proposal

Builds on Governor's General Revenue (GRF) Request in H.B.95

Local funds, currently being used by County Boards of MRDD, will be used to draw down (i.e. match) additional funds to expand services in the following areas:

Provide residential services to an additional 4,600 people, using a supported living model;
Provide family support services to more than 9,700 adults with mental retardation or other developmental disabilities currently living at home;
Increase wages for residential direct support professionals to levels comparable with county board positions; and
Increase program management staff to improve the quality of services in the community and to assure that Medicaid standards are met.

Requirement 1: The small increase requested by the Governor is an absolute prerequisite to allow Ohio to leverage more than $365 million in Medicaid funds, enabling the MRDD system to expand services in a meaningful way.

Requirement 2: The second critical element in this innovative proposal is to use approximately $148 million in local county board levy funds as match. No additional levies are required.

It is urgent that this proposal be supported now... because the economy is slowing, and the "window" for Medicaid expansion could close. We must act today!

Remember to tell your legislators that the small increase for the Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities budget, as proposed by the Governor in House Bill 95, is vital to the success of this innovative proposal, and will make a major difference in the lives of thousands of people in Ohio with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities.

Return to the top of the page.