Road to Responsibility

Saving human service jobs benefits everyone
Christopher T. White; Special To The Enterprise

I am confused. Over the past few weeks there has been much talk in the media about jobs and the federal stimulus package passed at the beginning of President Obama's term.

Specifically, there is considerable criticism that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has not created as many "new" jobs as the White House and various talkinghead pundits predicted at the time.

I am puzzled by the emphasis on "new" jobs, however. Is one job better than another?

In my eyes a job saved is as good as a job created because the net result is the sameaperson is employed who would otherwise be unemployed.

We cannot afford to have any more people become unemployed.

Here in Massachusetts, Gov. Patrick has done an excellent job of judiciously using stimulus dollars wherever he could to protect people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, such as those served by companies like Road To Responsibility, Inc.

In so doing, he also saved hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs in the private human services employment sector (while the state has cut tens of millions of dollars out of the human services budget over the past two years those cuts would have been significantly greater without these funds).

These people are hard-working, taxpaying citizens who contribute as much to the economy as any other group of workers while also caring for people who cannot care for themselves.

These services ultimately save society money by preventing these individuals from ending up in more costly service models (such as state institutions, hospitals or nursing homes), while helping to keep their families intact and functioning.

Much of the money used to support these vital services and jobs came in the form of enhanced Medicaid matching dollars (also referred to as FMAP). This program is set to expire on Dec. 31 unless steps are taken immediately by the governor and our congressional delegation to extend the program through June 30, 2011.

This is a move being requested by governors from all across the country and will probably be a major point of discussion at the National Governor's Association meeting in Boston today.

Without something like this occurring, the economies of many states will be thrown into chaos and many thou recently expressed a plan to extend the enhanced Medicaid matching program through June 30, 2011 by using unspent money already allocated through the ARRA.

This plan, then, would simply redirect a small fraction of those funds allowing them to save jobs while protecting basic life services to some of the most vulnerable people in our so-Christopher White sands of people across the country will lose their jobs.

Frankly, I am afraid that such an occurrence will send our already fragile economy into a double-dip recession or even a depression. Like many, though, I too am concerned about the federal deficit and the long-term implications on our economy.

Fortunately, there may be an option available that would help to protect jobs now without increasing the federal deficit. Sen. Scott Brown has ciety. Passage of such legislation will also help to buy more time for our economy to further stabilize without shedding more jobs in the meantime.

Please call your federal and state legislators and ask them to support the extension of the enhanced Medicaid matching program through next June.

It is likely that there will be a vote on this issue in Washington this week, so call now.

Christopher T. White, Ed.D., is president and CEO of Road To Responsibility, Inc. of Marshfield.