Dear Board Members and Friends of Independent Living Services:

I hope this letter finds you well and staying cool.  I am writing you today with a serious request. Please take a few minutes to read about proposed Medicaid cuts and the affect the cuts will have on services to ILS consumers and the economic impact on our community.

I know that everyone is very aware of the debate taking place in our nation’s capitol regarding the balancing of our nation’s budget.  While attending a meeting earlier this week with a group of other providers from across the state, it became very clear that now is the time for us to take action.  Although many of us have written, called and emailed, our contacts in Washington say that the Arkansas delegation has not heard from many people who would be affected negatively by drastic cuts to the Medicaid program.

While we all agree that changes need to be made to the system to reduce fraud and waste, it isn’t right that these cuts should take place at the expense of the men, women and children with developmental disabilities we serve each day.  We need to speak up and we need to speak up now!

Please join us in contacting our delegates and share with them your support of people with developmental disabilities and how the cuts will affect them and how the cuts will economically affect our local community and county.  I don’t believe that it is the intention of any of our legislators to purposely harm individuals with developmental disabilities however; I do think it is our job as taxpayers to contact our legislators and let them know the potential impact on services and our community.

Thank you for taking time to share your thoughts and concerns with our legislators.  I know that hearing from all of us will have a tremendous impact on their decisions.  Our contacts in Washington have asked us to track the number of responses from each of our families.  After making contact with your legislator please reply to this email.

Sincerely,

Jackie Fliss
Executive Director