News
Going Backwards in TBI
Every so often, I come across news clips like the following:
” A provider of brain injury rehabilitation services is closing its South Portland center, blaming reductions in the state’s Medicaid program. The Maine Center for Integrated Rehabilitation said its clinic on John Roberts Road will shut its doors Friday. About 38 clients will be affected, said Scott Mayo, the company’s clinical director.”
One of the Gordian knots of brain injury funding involves Medicaid bureaucracy, and the news excerpt above hints at the kind of heartbreak millions of TBI survivors across the country must endure. Medicaid exists to provide services. If it doesn’t pay for services, then service providers dwindle and die. But if services are required, then Medicaid will send TBI survivors to another state to find healthcare–provided the TBI survivor has a) a serious advocate b)plenty of time and c)the right criteria to qualify for a nearby rehab. Medicaid is counting on the fact that TBI survivors aren’t able to make it through the process, so Medicaid ends up saving more dollars while removing services from some of the medically neediest people in our country.
I could rant for days about this, but you can take action. Go to www.nashia.org and find your state’s head injury administrator. Write or call to ask them how you can get involved in brain injury advocacy today.
