Parents Of Disabled Children Urge The Use Of Rainy Day Fund
With a $304 million budget deficit and a special session coming up next month, does that mean more cuts to healthcare services? Angela Lorio, co-found of Trach Mommas of Louisiana, is worried she will lose state assistance for her 3-year-old son who uses a feeding tube. She says using the Rainy Day Fund to offset the shortfall is a no brainer.
“I pray that all of our representatives and senators will look at the lives of the disabled and prioritize accordingly but we can’t count on that.”
Lorio says she appreciates that Governor Edwards called a special session to open up other areas of the budget so cuts won’t be so deep to health care and education. She says the stress level and expenses the family of disabled people face already causes extreme stress and it’s not fair to take away assistance they desperately need.
“And to take the same families, the same moms and add to it that what they do have may be taken away, is unconscionable.”
Lorio says the easiest decisions lawmakers have to make is dipping into the Rainy Day Fund. But she says that’s only 119 million dollars that helps offset cuts.
“The sun may be out as I’m looking out the window but in all of our lives, it is storming. And I can’t think of any other better reason to use the Rainy Day Fund.”