Here’s one more to add to the list of hidden costs of the current economic crisis. In New Mexico, the state Health Department has decided not to use $9.4 million already approved by the Legislature, to pay for more people to receive services for developmental disabilities. There are 4,800 people on the waiting list for services, writes Steve Terrell of the New Mexican. And they’re angry that the state is backing out on its word to use the money to get them off the lists. The state just shrugged its shoulders.
Health Secretary Alfredo Vigil says: “The total budgetary picture is so bleak that any statements or commitment we had (last year) just don’t hold today.”
