Speaker: Katherine Moore
Please introduce yourself.
Katherine Moore: My name is Katherine. I live in Randolph County, North Carolina with my three children. My children range in age of 12 through 15. They all receive Medicaid. Additionally, they all have autism I/DD and my youngest one is medically fragile.
What challenges have you faced with Medicaid in North Carolina?
Katherine Moore: The challenges I have had with Medicaid would take me longer than five minutes to record, but it is flat out a nightmare. And in regards to services in the state of North Carolina. In a nutshell version of it, the train is totally derailed and it's on the verge of catching fire in this state. This state does not have services for the special needs population. There's no nurses, there's no ABA techs, there's no mental health services, there's no nothing. Ok. The state keeps, wanted to add on 600,000 more recipients by expanding Medicaid. Guess what? It's 600,000 more people that are not going to get what they need because it doesn't exist in the state. On a piece of paper, my three children qualify for so much, but it's nonexistent. The state just added in the 1915(c) waiver can't even use it because they don't exist. The services are not there. My kids can't get ABA techs. I'm hooked up with a company but there's no ABA tech to be had and the ones that do show up are out the door about as fast as they come through the door. You can't in my younger son is on CAP/C and that's a dumpster fire. There's so much listed in the waiver that I cannot access. Don't know how my case manager doesn't know how, a lot of inconsistencies. A lot of unknowns, a lot of no help, no support, no anything. And it's frustrating. It's challenging as a mom because I as a mom, I can't, I'm failing my kids because I can't get them the help that they need. Not because I'm not trying but because it doesn't exist, I fully believe that Medicaid does not care about the 16,000 plus people that are special needs in this state. And that number comes from the Register of Unmet Needs the CAP/C CAP/DA and the other waivers. And there's even more than that who are not on any waiver or any waitlist in this state. The state aka Medicaid has to start opening their eyes and realizing how bad things are that beneficiaries including my three kids are not getting what they are entitled to because there are no workers, there are no DSPs, there's no nurses, there's no doctors, there's no nothing out here. What is available? It is a crap shoot. You have health care professionals that say they'll take Medicaid, but then they came across one of my three kids. Nope, they're scared of them. They don't want to deal with it. They don't want to this, they don't want to that. I've had him tell it to my face. Ok. This state is too rural. This state is a lot of things. But the fact that you can't get services in all 100 counties in the state says a lot and should be known to Medicaid. Medicaid should know how bad it is out here for us recipients. Medicaid should know that we can't get help that there are no services or anything. But yet I don't see them stepping up to the plate to try to help us beneficiaries in any way, shape or form and it's frustrating and it's challenging and very, very stressful.
