Demand for the HCBA waiver, which helps people who might otherwise have to live in nursing facilities, has far outstripped the available spots. Last summer, California stopped accepting applications for the program as it hit an enrollment cap. Amid an outcry from disability rights advocates and families, California got federal approval to gradually add 7,200 slots over four years to eventually serve more than 16,000 people at a time.
Yet thousands of Californians remain on the wait list. As of June, more than 4,900 people were waiting, according to the Department of Health Care Services — more than twice as many as last summer.
The reason: The department said it is currently releasing only about 200 slots a month. Throwing open all the slots at once, it said, “would cause administrative backlogs” for both local agencies that take applications and for the state, “due to the high number of applications to process.” The state agency said it has limited resources, “including staff, to review the existing volume of enrollment packets.”
The lag has alarmed groups like Disability Rights California and Justice in Aging.
