Tuesday, May 19, 2009

May I Never Go Blind in Oregon

It's not enough to just close the School For The Blind in Oregon. Now the Governor wants to suspend the Oregon Commission for the Blind because of the economic crisis. They also want to remove vision services from the Oregon Health Plan. What the hell is going on here?

Is the secret plan to discriminate so badly that a class action will be filed? By who? Disability Rights of Oregon has already weighed in on the closure of the school. Have they also jumped on board to see the Commission suspended?

What kind of services WILL BE LEFT for blind people in Oregon? Do any of these decision makers really believe they will ever be re-elected, or that we won't remember what they've done to people with disabilities in our state? As capitalism and self importance come crashing down on us, the pain is being shouldered by those with the least. I'm not so sure God will go along with that.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

dude! i was googling "class action", "ohp plus". because i want to see if anybody's doing one. Now that this vision care and dental care for who, the POOREST DISABLED OREGONIANS, has been cut out of ohp plus! They are instead funding something that looks very redundant, it is the coverage for middle class kids, and those above poverty level. When all along there is a Federal program already, called CHIPS , that would have taken care of those kids just fine.
So they are taking vital benefits from severely impoverished disabled, giving them to middle class kids or those who can certainly afford more easily, to pay for them . How will they ever justify taking away glasses or tooth repairs from a disabled person living on $ 670 a month, and then giving those benefits to a kid whose family lives on $44,000 a year? because that is how it works. Tell me, can that family pay for some glasses for their kid? Yes, much more easily than that 50 year old who needs them and can't pay on that disability check.
This is just plain discrimination, and Oregon should get sued. The only people I know of who are on OHP Plus but are not eligible for the vision or that dental any more, are the disabled adults.
That's a class, as in, class action.
Any takers? attorney firms, that is.