Karen Ruano is a single working mom from Reseda with two children who are the center of her world. Like most parents, she strives to help ensure her boys have whatever they need to be happy and healthy.
Her children have special needs – a 7-year-old diagnosed with autism and an almost 3-year-old with Down syndrome. Their health care includes: physical therapy, speech therapy, applied behavior analysis and more. But as a family on Medi-Cal, Ruano fears her kids might not be able to get the essential therapies they need in the future, due to the expected impacts of last year’s federal funding cuts for Medicaid looming on the horizon.
“My [biggest] concern is that every year it seems that the networks and plans that accept Medi-Cal … have already been decreasing, so I feel that with the funding cuts it’s going to become even harder than it is already to find the services that we need,” said Ruano.
Ruano works part-time as a parent engagement liaison in the education field, but devotes much of her time to her children. Unfortunately, she said, lately she has spent a lot of time trying to find services for her younger son, who will switch from receiving occupational therapy (OT) via the Los Angeles County Regional Center to a Medi-Cal provider after he turns 3 next month.
“I started looking for his therapies last year, to get us placed into a regular schedule by the time he’s ready for ECSE [Early Childhood Special Education] school in March, but … we haven’t been able to find any [OT] provider willing to work with [our] Medi-Cal group,” said Ruano. In fact, she added, after seven months of searching, they haven’t even been placed on any waiting lists.
OT is essential, she explained, because it teaches special needs children the fine motor skills they need to learn basic everyday tasks, such as brushing their teeth, holding a pencil, self-feeding and tying their shoelaces.
“If we as parents don’t have the necessary guidance on how to teach them the next steps, our kids can get stuck in the same loop [and] can only progress up to a certain point,” said Ruano.
If she doesn’t find an OT provider who accepts Medi-Cal in the next two or three months, she will have to consider paying for services out of pocket, but won’t be able to afford the two to three recommended weekly sessions, which can cost $100 for each 30-minute appointment.
Though eligibility requirements are expected to tighten for Medi-Cal, Ruano currently isn’t concerned about losing coverage due to changing income thresholds, because she only works part-time. Instead, Ruano finds herself wondering and worrying how many of the therapies her boys need may become out of reach after the full impact of the H.R. 1 healthcare cuts becomes clear.
“[Without] the financial resources to pay for services that [may get] stripped away in the future, we are going to have to pick and choose what services are going to be a priority … because I wouldn’t be able to afford the cost of all their services out of pocket,” said Ruano.
It’s disheartening, she admitted, because she’s always tried her best to support her “kiddos.”
“But if they’re not able to get all the recommended services they need, at some point, we are going to see a regression or [lack of] progress, at least,” Ruano said. And if that happens, “How would we make up the progress they lost over time, [possibly] years? … That’s what I fear.”