Medicaid Overhaul Jeopardizes Funding

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- For all of her 32 years, Holly Van Hart has required constant care.
She's like a toddler — sometimes good, sometimes terrible.
And recently, violent.
Holly attacked her mother with a wrought-iron wine rack, bruising her, and pulled out clumps of hair.
"I had to call 9-1-1," said her mother, Phyllis.
Holly and Phyllis, 54, have lived a rollercoaster life together, but Phyllis always coped.
Now, Phyllis is at wit's end.
The Endicott mother had two chances more than five years ago to put Holly in a group home.
Now, even if she can bring herself to do it, a spot in a government-funded home no longer may be an option. Some families already have to wait years for placement, and no new homes are on the horizon as the state struggles with a tenuous fiscal situation.