Sam Brownback has been making his tour of the state, and recently he found himself in the small town of Chanute Kansas. Chanute had been part of the attack on communities earlier in the year, when
Senate Republicans moved on a bill designed to strip away community supported broadband services.
On Saturday, though, Sam Brownback ran into a truly unmovable object: A special needs parent.
http://www.chanute.com/...
Two local parents of children with special needs confronted Governor Sam Brownback during a talk at the New Chicago Room in downtown Chanute on Saturday morning, and created some tense moments at the gathering.
Chanute resident Chad Small stood up and said that he was the father of three children, one of whom has special needs. He told the governor that while funding for special education programs hasn’t been cut in the last four years, it has still not kept up with rising costs.
“State statue says that your office and the state of Kansas is responsible for 92 percent of the overage for special needs students over the cost of a typically-developing student would be,” Small said. “Currently, your administration is sitting at 79 percent, so, you’re 13 percent below this state statute.”
There are a few things you just don't do - and one of them is expect a parent of a special needs child to not fight for their child. Brownback's meeting in strongly Republican Neosho county started out poorly - and got worse.
You see, Brownback knew that there would be conservative defenders for him in the room. The problem is, even his defenders weren't much defense. Why? Because they knew the father in question, and they knew other children with special needs.
Nikki Jacobs, who has a daughter with autism and who started the local Autism Hope for Families support group, stood up to thank the governor for signing an insurance bill to help families that are dealing with autism-related issues.
“But I’m also with Chad,” Jacobs said. “Early intervention for these kiddoes is the best thing we can do for them. It costs us more money statewide to put them in a state hospital because they cannot take care of themselves as adults than it will to educate them now.”
Whoops. You see, too many people know someone who face disabilities. And they understand what has gone on with Sam Brownback's administration.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Since Brownback’s inauguration, 1,414 Kansans with disabilities have been forced off of the Medicaid physical disability (PD) waiver. In January of 2013, Brownback became the first governor to fully privatize Medicaid services, claiming he would save the state $1 billion in 5 years without having to cut services, eligibility, or provider payments. Now, under Brownback’s “KanCare,” PD waiver cases are handled by for-profit, out-of-state, Fortune 500, publicly-traded managed care services. Kansas has contracts with three managed care profiteers — United Healthcare, Sunflower State Health Plan (owned by Centene Corporation), and AmeriGroup. Amerigroup and Centene each gave $2,000, Kansas’ maximum allowed contribution, to Brownback’s re-election campaign.
Too many people know someone who has been forced to lose coverage - and may find someone with mental and physical disability who is now at risk.
Sam Brownback ran into someone looking for help for their child. And in Republican Neosho county, even people on the right wanted answers, because the math of throwing away a life - like those on disabilities - just doesn't add up.