A dad's eye view on what the proposed Medicaid expansion means ...

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Clay Boatright, his wife and three girls

In considering the debate on Governor Perry?s statement that Texas should refuse to expand Medicaid?coverage, I was struck by the thoughts of Clay Boatright, a dad of three, who, by his own admission, is not someone you immediately think of as a Medicaid proponent. As he wrote about himself recently on Facebook:

Met with TX State Reps. Diane Patrick (R-Arlington) and Kelly Hancock (R-Ft. Worth) to talk Medicaid. A good advocate calibrates his/her pitch for the audience, so I opened my comments along the lines of:
?I live in Plano, a deacon at Prestonwood Baptist Church and a supporter of Rep.?Van Taylor. In other words, I may not fit the typical stereotype of someone whose children need Medicaid to maintain a sustainable life. Now let me tell ya about my kids??

Clay, by the way, is?also outgoing President of The Arc of Texas, the state?s oldest nonprofit organization advocating on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities, and was appointed last year by President Obama ?to the President?s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Washington. If that leaves you scratching your head about Clay?s political affiliations, he describes himself as ?a hard core Independent, as my political door swings both ways. I tell people that neither God nor disabilities discriminate based on political party affiliation, therefore neither do I.?

I asked Clay to follow up with his thoughts on Medicaid for our readers and this is what he told me:

As the father of three daughters, including identical twins with severe intellectual disabilities, it churns my stomach to know the long term quality of their lives may be determined by which way the political winds blow each election cycle. ?Today?s ferocious and visceral?controversy over the Affordable Care Act, known or ?Obamacare?, calls for a double dose of antacids as elected ?leaders?, and I use that term generously, prefer to inflame constituent emotions in lieu of providing facts for rational decisions.

First, let?s look at who exactly receives Medicaid support. ?Of the 3.5 million Texans enrolled in the Texas Medicaid program, roughly 2.8 million of them (80%) are children under the age of 19. ?Sixty-six percent of Medicaid recipients are non-disabled children, 9% are non-disabled adults, and 25% are people with disabilities and elderly. ?Though representing only a quarter of the enrollees, the disabled and elderly account for almost 60% of Medicaid expenditures due to their higher cost of care. ?So Texas Medicaid is basically a program for children and people with disabilities.

The seed of the American Dream is the opportunity for everyone to maximize their skills en route to becoming the person God himself designed. ?For most of us that involves landing a job and hopefully creating a career. ?As it relates to healthcare, this enables 75% of us without disabilities to secure private insurance through our employers or on the open market. ?However, due to many factors, including employer ignorance and fear, only 24% of people with cognitive disabilities are employed, resulting in only 32% having private insurance. ?For the rest, 41% are on Medicaid, while the remainder are on Medicare or are uninsured. ?In other words, Medicaid is the lifeline we Americans have created for people with disabilities to receive healthcare.

Many advocates for people with disabilities support certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act, and based on opinion polls, so does the general population. ?Enabling parents to carry disabled children on their private insurance until age 26 reduces the financial strain on Medicaid, while prohibiting exclusions for pre-existing conditions and lifetime caps significantly reduces the number of people with disabilities becoming uninsured. ?With insurance paying for preventative care, emergency room visits and acute care services for people with disabilities are lowered as well.

While our oldest daughter will eventually move out on her own with true independence, our twins will be dependent on others. ?Many believe they should live with my wife and me until we pass away. ?As costs associated with their adult disability will run over $50,000 per year for each of them, the equivalent of sending them to Harvard for the rest of their lives, that?s not really an option we can afford. ?Without the respite, therapy, and support services adults with disabilities receive from Medicaid, my twins? extreme behaviors would likely cause our premature deaths anyway, and with no faith-based or commercial enterprise options available for their care, they?ll inevitably be subject to those political winds whether we like it or not.

Source: http://healthblog.dallasnews.com/2012/07/a-dads-eye-view-on-what-the-proposed-medicaid-expansion-means-to-families-with-special-needs.html/

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