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Blackcat31 12:36 PM 02-27-2018
Originally Posted by Cat Herder:

In the past the government shutdowns ended in providers never being reimbursed at all with no recourse. Subsidy is simply too unstable for me to opt in my State.
A few years back we had a shutdown of our state government and providers were paid but a long time after the fact and it caused a ton of issues with providers and their willingness to accept state assisted families.

At the time that happened, 75% of my families used some form of assistance. It almost wiped me out financially as that was ALOT of income to not have.

Like I said we were eventually paid but by the time that happened, my finances were all over the place..... I ended up limiting the number of spaces in my program that I would allow to be filled by a family on subsidy. Now if a government shut down in my state were to happen again, I only have 3 out of 12 spaces filled with children who's family uses state assistance to cover their costs.

I probably would have stopped taking subsidy families all together but QRIS requires it and the state did a big overhaul as to how they implement the entire program so there is a lot more "protection" for providers than there was before.

For example I never knew if a family truly qualified for the program nor for how many hours per week until after I submitted a full monthly bill. If the family owed anything they could be long gone by that time leaving the provider out all fees.... now the state will pay the last 2 weeks of care even if the family left with no notice and will put a hold on the family's case if they owe a previous provider any monies.

I submit all billings electronically as well as get paid via direct deposit now so it's easy to see if a family's case is still active or not. If there is any issue with the family using services when not authorized, the state takes it up with the parent not the provider so leaving us out of that equation also makes a big difference.

The common phrase used to be "Daycare providers receiving state assistance"... but wording has since changed to "Daycare providers that accept family's that use state assistance" Makes a big difference.
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