Columnist says California budget cuts hurt those who need the most help, including children with disabilities

Michael Stetz' column for the San Diego Uniion-Tribune:

With 18 children, the Hauers have to worry about money for food, electricity, gas, clothing

And now toothaches.

Or, heaven forbid, a root canal. They cost a lot.

They particularly worry about this when it comes to their son Clifton. He must be fed through a tube. Chewing helps keep teeth clean, his mother, Penny Hauer, explained, so Clifton's teeth are more vulnerable to decay.

Clifton is 31 and has cerebral palsy. He's in a wheelchair. The Hauers adopted him at age 9. He's one of dozens of special-needs children the Hauers have adopted and cared for at their Rancho San Diego home over the years.

Sure, the children bring challenges.

But the state of California just added another by wiping out dental care and other health services for disabled and low-income adults older than 21, such as Clifton.
You know the story: The state is broke and this is one way it decided to fix the problem.

The reduction in Medi-Cal benefits, which took place June 30, will save about $110 million. It's not a lot for the state, which is trying to close a $26 billion deficit. But that coverage means a lot to the Hauers.

“We just pray every night that we don't see any decay,” said Chuck Hauer, Penny's husband.

Budget stories can be impersonal. Boring. Hard to understand. Penny Hauer thinks it's important “to put a face” on them.

At her home, I met 35-year-old Charity, whom the Hauers adopted at 6 months of age. She has cerebral palsy.

I met Cherry, now 43, the oldest of the Hauer's kids. She suffered a brain injury when she fell off monkey bars as a child.

I met Curtis, 24, who has cerebral palsy and can't talk.

If I get a toothache, I can go screaming to a dentist. Some of the Hauer's children?
“They can't tell you if they have a problem,” Penny Hauer said. So routine dental care, such as cleanings, is important. Now it's been axed.

The Hauers care for 12 adults they adopted as children. They have six other children younger than 21 living with them who also are disabled; as minors, they can still get dental coverage.

The Hauers have made the children a part of the family. They've fallen in love with each of them. They hate to see such kids be alone or unloved. They've adopted more than 40 so far. They've seen 13 die.

“All are good kids. All get along,” said Chuck Hauer, who's 71 and retired from an Ohio tire company. “Just some are a lot of work.”
I have to admit I was initially leery of stopping over because I thought the scene might be too depressing.

Hardly.

I got there at lunch, when the children were eating baloney and cheese sandwiches. The older children helped the younger ones.

Penny Hauer joked with the kids. She rubbed their backs. The youngest, Caleb, who is 9 and has muscular dystrophy, stood by her side, talking about his favorite video game, “Need for Speed.”

“You won't see an immaculate house here,” Penny Hauer said. “But you do see kids who are healthy and happy.”

The Hauers make do from the Social Security assistance their children receive. It ranges from $340 to $700 per month per child, depending on the disability. The Hauers get Social Security as well.

Their children's health care is provided by Medi-Cal and Medicaid.

The Hauers are probably saving taxpayers' money by caring for the children at home. Institutionalized care is normally more expensive, said Ann Menasche, an attorney with Disability Rights California.

Adults who live in skilled nursing homes will still get dental care. “It's completely irrational,” she said, of the cuts.

In addition to nixing dental care, the state no longer pays for speech therapy and optician services for disabled and low-income adults.

There's no more podiatric or psychology services either. In all, nine services once provided were axed.

The Hauers mostly worry about the dental care, though. That's because those bills can be staggering. Many of the children, because of their disabilities, need to be put under when undergoing dental work. That makes one option, going to a community health clinic, not possible, Penny Hauer said.

She stressed to me that this is not just about her family.

“It's about all of the adults out there who need this care. What are they going to do?”

They're going to have to go without or fork over the money, said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a health-care consumer advocacy organization.

“It's tragic,” he said. “But these are the choices our elected leaders are making.”
He thinks it's fiscally stupid, too. If these people don't get routine dental care, they can develop more severe problems, such as gum disease. And it's not simply about having a nice set of teeth. Major health problems can originate from the teeth and gums, health experts say.

It's no tiny pool of people getting hit. As many as 3.4 million could see some of their care cut.

I met 12 of them.

I thought you should too.