Backgrounder #1 for February 18 Media Advisory: "Individuals with disabilities talk about the powerful impact of the Governor's proposed 2005 state budget"

Illinois' rank of 47th in funding of people with disabilities is truly shameful.

Key facts and funding issues: The financial state of community-based services for people with disabilities in Illinois remains dangerous:

• Although Illinois ranked 8th in per capita personal income among the 50 states in 2002**, it ranked 47th in funding for community-based care to people with developmental disabilities in 2002, the last year for which data is available.

• This is a crucial statistic because the U.S. Supreme Court asserted in its Olmstead decision of 1999 that it was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act to force people to live in institutions and not provide them the option of community-based care. Despite the ruling — and the exceedingly high demand from consumers — the community-based service system in Illinois is drastically under-funded. Many people with disabilities consider the fair implementation of the Olmstead decision to be a civil rights issue.

• In recent years, many key costs of doing business in Illinois have skyrocketed and state funding - which accounts for 60 percent of Anixter Center ’s budget - hasn’t begun to address these increases. For example, at Anixter Center over the past two years:

• Property and casualty insurance increased 222 percent.

• Workers compensation insurance costs rose 32 percent.

• Employee health insurance premiums went up 30 percent.

• In recent years, a number of unfunded mandates have cost agencies like Anixter Center a great deal of money. For example, a rule passed in 2000 impacting the “Administration of Medication in Community Settings” (Part 116, Department of Human Services) costs us approximately $150,000 a year to administer; we receive only $11,000 a year from the state to cover the associated expenses.

• In several cases, the state-established rate paid to service providers such as Anixter Center for certain fixed expenses doesn’t begin to cover our costs. For example: Anixter Center is funded at a rate of $43,700 for each of the 73 people living in one of our group homes (known as a CILA, or Community Integrated Living Arrangement). However, our actually cost is $54,700, meaning we lose $11,000 on each person for whom we provide service. The $11,000 figure consists of a $6,000 shortfall on labor costs, $3,000 for housing and $2,000 in uncovered administrative costs.

• Transportation costs have become such a stumbling block that even the Department of Human Services (DHS) acknowledges that its rate for transporting clients who attend day programs is quite inadequate. We are pleased that DHS has begun to address the shortfall, estimating that $13.6 million new dollarswould be necessary to correct the flawed rate. ($8.5million would be state money, with the remainder being matched by the federal government). However, legislative and gubernatorial support is necessary for the allocation of these state dollars to become a reality.

• In 2002, the Illinois House Human Services Appropriations Committee, 92nd General Assembly, acknowledged through Resolution 5351that Illinois has fallen woefully behind many other states in transitioning individuals with disabilities into community-based care. The resolution states that community-based services are now funded at only 65 percent of their cost, the result of a slow deterioration over many years.

** Braddock, David, PhD, (Ed.). (2003). Disability at the Dawn of the 21 st Century and The State of the States. Washington, D.C.: American Association on Mental Retardation . (Note: The data cited in this press release was released in 2004 and comes from a semi-annual update of the research contained in the book, published biennially.)

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The mission of the Lester and Rosalie Anixter Center is to assist people with disabilities to live and work successfully in the community. Anixter Center is a leading provider of high-quality vocational, residential and educational options, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and health care. Anixter Center is an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities to be full and equal members of the community.