Providing Services for People Makes Common Sense

Today I had a conversation with a community leader about the value to the community in providing services to the disabled.

While there are many people who are "anti-taxes," and I do understand why, it is very important to consider that if services are not provided to people who need them the most, the cost to the community may actually be much more than paying taxes.

Parents caring for children with disabilities who do not receive services have to stay home to care for their children rather than work. This decreases their family income (and in fact many have to be on public assistance to survive), and also decreases their spending ability which means loss of income for the state. People with disabilities who don't work because they need services in order to get jobs, also lose the ability to get employer-based medical insurance. They must rely on Medicaid or, in some cases, hospital indigent care. Parents who are unable to save money for their retirement, will end up themselves needing Medicaid to pay for nursing care.

These are just a few examples but it is important for people to understand that we all pay higher costs in insurance, products, medical care, taxes, services, transportation and more when we do not support programs that serve our most vulnerable citizens.