We Officially Got Screwed!!!

Well, I found out today that Chairman White screwed the autism insurance bill today at his finance committee meeting today. I called periodically throughout the day to their "Agenda Hotline" to see which bills were being run today - and there was never any mention of HB 4091 on his agenda... Well, at the meeting, he introducted a resolution to "study" the autism insurance bill for the entire year, passed it unanimously, and as far as he was concerned - that is that... And here's the kicker to ALL of that - no one was informed that this was going to happen, not Delegate Rodighiero or myself - though he knew good and damn well how to get in touch with either of us... He backdoored this into a resolution, with no one knowing this was the plan... On top of that, I've heard from sources in the House AND Senate that this was what he was going to do - pass the buck and simply not deal with it... To put it mildly - I'M PISSED!!!!

There has been a LOT of weird things that have happened recently that have me either pissed or scratching my head... 1) On Monday while in Delegate White's office - he looked right at a group of five of us (one of them being Rev. Dennis Sparks of the WV Council of Churches) and said he WAS going to run our bill on his next agenda - obviously didn't happen, 2) The Fiscal Notes submitted in relation to our bill "mysteriously" disappeared when the latest one came in and was never posted, and I even asked to get a copy and was told that I likely wouldn't be able to see it (B.S.), 3) I spoke with Mike Adkins (Deputy Director of PEIA) and he claimed they delivered a report to Chairman White that had a proposal to amend the current bill for this session because the bill had merit - what that proposal actually was, who frickin' knows because I was never provided a copy of it (though I asked many times), but it looks like their proposal was to simply go to this resolution, 4) I made my own "Fiscal Projection" for PEIA based on their "numbers" they provided where they claimed that an estimated 188 children affected with ASD in their coverage would cost the state $6.8 million dollars, and I proved that their estimates were over inflated as I came up with numbers between $1.8 to $2.5 million (change in behavioral therapy caps from $50K to $75K) - PLUS in a separate writeup, I showed that this could all be changed to the 210K-220K individuals without costing the state a dime by increasing the existing policies by no more than $0.74 cents per month per person on a policy - that's right... 74 CENTS!!! , 5) they won't provide help now for our children with ASD's, BUT White will pass out of his committee a bill that proposes a $76 million assistance fund to help bailout those teachers who a currently in the New Retirement System, of which it was their choice to go into it, to get into the Old Retirement System... Though personal contributions will need to be made by each person, the $76 million is from state taxes!!! So adults who make bad decisions gets all of this help, but our children with ASD's - who aren't able to make any choices on their own - continue to get screwed!!! I'm not attempting to say that this bill doesn't have merit and is not a need - but if we can invest $76 million into this, we should without hesitation be able to move this autism insurance bill, 6) This was solely a decision that Delegate White made on his own and didn't involve the rest of the committee members at all... So the way I feel about this, is that Delegate White's supporters are more important than our kids, and us as parents are being treated like nothings and our kids are being treated like third class citizens all because Delegate White is more concerned about his own self-interests!!!

Delegate White had a chance to do SOMETHING this year, it may not have been the type of legislation that we all would have liked to see, but at least it would have been a start... But instead of doing the right things, listening to the TRUTH and the TRUE numbers, and caring about our children - he showed what a true coward he is and hid all of this behind closed doors so he could move this into a resolution and wash his hands clean of it this year... Well, as far as I'm concerned - this simply is NOT good enough!!!

I am BEGGING you all to bombard Delegate White's office with phone calls, emails, faxes, and even personal visits for the next two weeks (rest of the current session) and let him know how upset we all are in this cowardace action he took and the lack of respect he showed to our children. And even ask him WHY our children is not a priority to him (because obviously they are not), maybe this will be a good reminder to him of what his priorities SHOULD be - because we all know this would be a different story if he either has a child or grandchild affected with ASD... He would have told every insurance lobbyist, insurance company and all other opposers of this bill that it has merit, it is long overdue, and that it is SOLELY ABOUT THE CHILDREN!!!

Finally, ensure to Delegate White, and ALL members of the WV Legislature, that WE ARE EVERYWHERE AND WE ARE NOT GOING AWAY!!!