COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — The state of Colorado is maintaining the maximum paid caregiver hours at 112 hours per week for now, but families with children who have disabilities say they still fear more cuts to essential services.
Alicia Folsom, a mother who has disabilities herself, said while keeping the 112-hour limit is a step in the right direction, she worries about future reductions.
"They could totally bring back up the 56 hour cap. They could continue the under age 6 canceling all their hours, and I know they're continuing with the calculator," Folsom said.
Folsom is referring to the Direct Care Services Calculator, a new system for caregivers to determine what services are covered under Medicaid.
The calculator shows that caregivers of children under age 6 do not receive any paid minutes for personal care tasks like bathing, dressing, eating or feeding. However, Folsom argues this doesn't account for children with complex medical needs.
"I can understand how some of that would be regular everyday stuff, but for example, if you have a child with epilepsy that throws up on themselves and wets themselves at every seizure and they're having 50 seizures a day, that personal care adds up to a lot of hours every day," Folsom said.
Bonnie Silva with the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing explained the reasoning behind the policy.
"Ages 0 to 3 for that unskilled personal care, that is considered a parental responsibility. All parents have to support kids under that age with those tasks, so it's not something that Medicaid would pay for," Silva said.
Silva said personal care responsibilities are different from skilled nursing care. When asked about exceptions, she said they are very unlikely but case managers can work with supervisors if they believe something doesn't add up.
For Folsom, who cares for her 3-year-old daughter with special needs, the concerns remain significant.
"She hasn't even been assigned those hours yet and they're already taking them away," Folsom said.
She isn't alone. Parent caregiver, Paisley Cawiezell has a six-year-old daughter, Marisela who needs extra care.
"My daughter is blind, my daughter has leber congenital amaurosis, a condition where she compulsively pokes and presses her eyes,and as a result of that, her eyes are sunken in. This is a compulsive, self-harming behavior that is part of her condition, and I have to constantly supervise her," said Cawiezell.
Even though Marisela gets some hours from the calculator, Cawiezell says if she was a year younger, it would be detrimental.
"It is taking away numerous amounts of minutes and time from tasks," she said.
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