Major Changes To The Real Life Choices Program
By Herbert D. Hinkle, Esq.
Two major changes have occurred with the Real Life Choices Program since January 1, 2009. To refresh your recollection, RLC is a cash option in lieu of residential services offered by the New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities to clients on the priority waiting list for residential services.
First the good news: As reported in our last issue, the New Jersey Legislature expanded the rights of people receiving self-directed support services, of which RLC is one version. No longer can the Division set a predetermined ceiling on the level of funding. Instead, the funding must be sufficient to maximize a recipient’s developmental potential. The process of determining how to maximize developmental potential must occur in the context of an annual IHP meeting, in which the recipient and recipient’s guardian and family can attend. In other words, DDD’s take it or leave it approach must end. RLC is only one self-directed program to which the new law applies, some are in lieu of residential services and others are in lieu of a day program.
Now the bad news, which is not completely bad: RLC is abolished in favor of offering a client a choice when his or her turn come up on the priority waiting list. Each client will be offered the choice of a placement with an organization or cash to set up a personal program. The latter is a form of self-directed services. Presumably, DDD intends to give RLC a new name, but whatever the name, the terms of the program must conform to the January 2009 legislation.
Who is negatively affected by the change? The people lower on the priority waiting list. In the past, DDD would have a separate pot of money for RLC. Because many people declined RLC to hold out for an actual placement, people further down on the list were being offered RLC. Now DDD will have a single pot of Community Care Waiver money. The same number of placements will be made in a given year, but only from the top of the list.
As we have discuss in previous articles it is critical to get on the priority waiting list. In many cases we have been able to get our clients on the list many years before the youngest parent turned 55.
Hinkle,
Fingles, & Prior a multi-state law practice with offices in Lawrenceville, Cherry Hill, Florham Park, and Paramus, New Jersey, and Plymouth Meeting and Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. They lecture and write frequently on topics of elder law, estate planning, special needs trusts, guardianship, special education, health care insurance & Medicaid, and accessing adult services and are available to speak to groups in New Jersey and Pennsylvania at no charge.
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2009 Hinkle, Fingles & Prior, Attorneys at Law. All rights reserved.
