State Cuts Hurt The Disabled

From the Topeka Capital-Journal:

Christy Tatum moved four times in two months and is praying for a fifth move to a place she can really call home.

Doctors have diagnosed Tatum, a Topeka resident, with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Social Security Administration, however, has refused her disability application twice, and she has heard the process to appeal that decision could take years she can’t afford.

Tatum now lives at the Topeka Rescue Mission and receives state aid, but she learned in June that the support — MediKan health coverage and $241 each month in general assistance — will disappear in five months.

The budget the Legislature approved for the fiscal year that starts today reduces MediKan and general assistance from 24 months to 18 months for residents for Social Security disability, and it removed the “hardship provision” for extensions. That means any Kansan “unable to meet federal disability standards” who has received the programs for 18 months since 2002 will be cut off. ...

Hancock said between 1,600 and 1,700 Kansans with pending disability cases will lose their MediKan and general assistance today because they have exceeded 18 months.