Florida’s Agency For Persons With Disabilities has finally gotten back into the black after about a decade worth of deficits. At a Wednesday meeting in Tallahassee, leaders grappled with how to stay that way.
One of the biggest cost drivers the agency faces is the Medicaid program—which supports people with disabilities and which agency Spokeswoman Melanie Etters says is in demand:
“Every APD customer has a cost plan and we’re using that cost plan to budget for the year. So if someone has a cost-plan of $30,000 thousand dollars, we’re budgeting for that amount. We’re seeing a few individuals coming back saying hey, I need to increase my cost plan.”
The increases families are asking for have not been enough to throw the agency back into financial turmoil, but Etters says it’s a situation APD is watching closely.
The legislature gave the agency extra money this year to begin moving people off a waiting list, and it could receive additional funds next year to provide services more of the 20,000 people on the list.
