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.
Harris County is Creating a Culture of Dependency
Famed free-market economist Thomas Sowell once remarked that “Although the big word on the left is ‘compassion,’ the big agenda on the left is dependency.” Sowell’s insight is not only correct, but it’s also a fitting lens through which to view Harris County’s new guaranteed income pilot program, Uplift Harris. To start, Uplift Harris is...