An amendment on the upcoming Nov. 4 ballot could put people with disabilities in Louisiana at risk for necessary funding, according to a non-profit.

Constitutional Amendment No. 1 will ask voters if they support authorizing the legislature to create the Louisiana Medical Assistance Trust Fund for the payment of Medicaid reimbursement to the health care provider groups paying fees into the fund.

“We are really worried about the potential impact of the amendment,” Stephanie Patrick, director of policy and planning at The Advocacy Center, told the American Press editorial board.

Patrick is concerned about rate protections guaranteed by providers who pay into the fund.

“It will be very difficult for the state to cut their budget during times of budget shortfalls,” Patrick said.

Historically, higher education and health care are the two places the state can cut when there are times of budget deficits.

The consequences of the bill, according to Patrick, is that it would restrict budget flexibility.

“Over the years, special interest groups have successfully lobbied for protection in the budget, leaving health care and (higher) education to bear the brunt of the budget cuts,” Patrick said in a prepared statement. “This amendment will restrict budget flexibility even further, protecting rates for nursing homes, group homes and pharmacies.”

Funding for these facilities already accounts for 31 percent of the total Medicaid budget, she pointed out.

“If this amendment passes, legislators will be unable to manage future budgets effectively,” she said. “They will be forced to cut programs and services that are vital to their constituents — especially the home and community-based services that people with disabilities overwhelmingly want.”

She said the biggest problem with the amendment is the “preferential rate protections for the protected institutions.”

She said the amendment could dramatically affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities, especially the more than 45,000 residents in the state waiting for services in their homes.

“It is clear that this amendment will deny basic civil rights to thousands of individuals with disabilities in Louisiana, who want to remain in their homes and communities, but who will be forced to do without needed care, or get it in segregated institutional settings,” she said.

She cited studies by AARP that 84 percent of people age 50 and older want to stay in their own homes. In addition, she said home and community-based services save money and provide better quality care.

For more on information on the The Advocacy Center’s efforts to lobby against the amendment visit www.twitter.com/LA4HomeCare or www.facebook.com/LA4HomeCare.(MGNonline)