HAMBURG, N.Y. (WKBW) \u2014 A local mother says she was blindsided after being told she may have to start paying for services her daughter has relied on for nearly three decades.<\/p>\n
79-year-old Henrietta Zito is the sole caregiver for her adult daughter, Jenny, who has developmental disabilities. Zito said Jenny has attended a program through The Arc Erie County two days a week for years.<\/p>\n
That routine, she said, was suddenly thrown into question this week.<\/p>\n
“A lady from ARC came into my home and told me because Jenny does not have the Medicaid waivers,” Zito said. “I have no idea what they are.” <\/p>\n
Zito said she was told by an ARC representative that her daughter did not have correct Medicaid waivers to be covered. She was told that she would need to pay $55 an hour for Jenny to attend programs. <\/p>\n
“Bombshell, after 29 years,” she said. “I had never felt as much anger.”<\/p>\n
Zito said she did not understand why the issue was coming up now or what steps she needed to take.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never even heard about these waivers because I certainly would have tried to get them a long time ago,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Looking for answers, Zito reached out to 7 News.<\/p>\n
WATCH: ‘Bombshell’: Mother says she was blindsided by Arc Erie County coverage issue<\/p>\n
‘Bombshell’: Mother says she was blindsided by Arc Erie County coverage issue<\/p>\n
After I reached out to The Arc Erie County about her concerns, Zito said she heard back from the organization on the same day.<\/p>\n
“I believe because you called, that is why they called me, and that is why they are trying to appease me,” she said.<\/p>\n
In a statement, The Arc Erie County said Jenny’s services were never at risk of stopping.<\/p>\n
The organization said it met with Zito to explain insurance requirements and is now working with her to secure the proper waiver so services can be covered.<\/p>\n
The agency also said Jenny is expected to return to the program next week.<\/p>\n
For Zito, the situation goes beyond paperwork or policy. She said she wants to make sure her daughter can continue doing what she loves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAMBURG, N.Y. (WKBW) \u2014 A local mother says she was blindsided after being told she may have to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[80628,136,138,137],"class_list":["post-180744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-arc-erie-county","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}