Excuse
me while I climb back up on my soapbox for a few minutes here. A little bit ago
I received an email from a local agency that serves our developmentally
disabled son. While the agency didn't come right out and say it, it was pretty
clear that they were against the proposal to move our state into "managed
care" by our Kansas governor, Sam Brownback. In a nutshell what Governor
Brownback has proposed is to move administration Kansas' entitlement programs
over to non-governmental private agencies.
The
Governor has proposed this for two reasons. The first reason is that the
private sector is infinitely more efficient then our government has ever hoped
to be and this has the prospect, in the long run, of saving Kansas millions of
dollars. Millions of dollars that could be used in a much better way other than
to fuel a big, inefficient, and even somewhat ineffective .
In
response to their email, the following is what I wrote in reply to the agency.
"Please
keep in mind that something has to change. To sum things up, we as a country
are broke. We can't just keep dolling out money freely without strong
accountability to entitlement programs. If we do, then it won't be long and
there will be no money to pay for anything, including care for the disabled. Unless
everyone is willing to bite the bullet so to say and make some major, sweeping changes,
we run the very great risk of losing everything very shortly.
If
managed care will still serve the needs of the disabled and save money then it
is something that needs to be seriously examined. I say this as a father of a
DD son. I would rather make sweeping changes now and have support for him in
the years to come rather than have the status quo continue for a short time and
then have nothing for him in the future. Consider the fact that right now every
American citizen is in debt to our government for a little over $50,000. This
includes you, the disabled, our children, and me.
Let's
all band together and do the responsible thing. Let's push for change that will
ensure that the disabled among us will receive the support they need not just
for now or maybe the next few (very few) years but for their lifetime!
Please
pass this email along to your leaders at Rainbows. Maybe we can get a dialogue
going so we can do our part to insure a lifetime of service to those who need
it!"
Whether
my email will do any good or not is yet to be determined but I can always hope
for the best! My hope is that not only our state but also this great country of
ours will wake up before it's too late. We had better hurry. The fat lady is
warming up!
Be
Blessed!
Big
Scott
