04/21/2026
We need to let our legislators know this is not right!
Big picture view:
Leaving home-based care funds unspent may not ultimately save taxpayer money. By denying in-home support, caregivers are pushed to the breaking point.
When families collapse under the strain, individuals with disabilities can be placed into Medicaid-funded institutions. According to Alan Abramowitz, former director of the Arc of Florida, institutionalization costs taxpayers upwards of $100,000 a year per patient, compared to less than $60,000 a year for home-based care.
By the numbers:
$1.06 billion: The estimated total of unspent APD funds available for home-based services when combining the state’s $456 million lump sum with the federal match.
16,000+: The number of eligible Floridians currently on the waitlist in the first half of 2026.
385: The number of days Logan Nordin waited for care after suffering life-threatening injuries and filing a crisis claim.
17: The number of years JJ Holmes waited on the list before receiving assistance.
What’s next:
The state points to recent progress, noting that over the past year, the waitlist has been reduced from roughly 20,000 to 16,000. However, advocates for individuals with disabilities say some families removed from the list may have been wrongly denied care, and others report being dropped from services they already had. The next chapter of this investigation will examine the human cost of these denials.
https://www.fox13news.com/news/florida-millions-unspent-funds-disability-care-thousands
