State Supported Living Centers (SSLC) are an increasingly inefficient and ineffective system of care for those with intellectual disability and/or developmental disabilities (ID/DD). The current state-run, institutional system is a Medicaid-funded program that suffers from higher provider rates, but lower quality of care than privatelyrun community-based facilities. While the regulating agency, the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS), has made tremendous progress in moving individuals from SSLCs to community care, consolidation of the facilities has yet to occur in Texas. The resulting lower census per facility has increased costs per resident and the aging structures require high maintenance costs. Overall, the SSLC system is failing financially and failing their patients.
Health Care
Don’t Fence Me In: Reggie’s Story
DEL RIO—Reggie’s life has revolved around opportunity—seeking it all over America, and eventually creating it for himself, in response to the needs of his neighbors. He’s back in Del Rio now—where he belongs, he says. He runs a medical transport company (staffed by licensed EMTS and paramedics), something many of the elderly South Texas depend...
March 16, 2026