Paying Customers Are Not Enough
The Dynamics of Individualized Funding
John O’Brien
2001
Individual funding is right for the times ………………………………………………2
Why the idea of paying customers is powerful but misleading ……………….3
Mismatch between what’s wanted and what’s offered………………………..4
A tight market ………………………………………………………………………………5
Requirement for high customization………………………………………………..7
Creating an innovating market……………………………………………………………8
Conditions for success …………………………………………………………………….10
Lots of agents……………………………………………………………………………..10
Some connections ……………………………………………………………………….11
Willingness to try and tell …………………………………………………………….11
From consumer to agent…………………………………………………………………..12
Engaging sophisticated customers …………………………………………………….14
Reshaping the world ……………………………………………………………………….15
References ……………………………………………………………………………………..16
Individual funding is right for the times
Efforts to reform services to people with developmental disabilities by shifting to individualized funding have taken hold. Much has been accom- plished in the way of articulating principles, advancing arguments for indi- vidualized funding, developing structures for allocating reasonable shares of funds to individual budgets, brokering services, and assuring an account- able flow of money. Debate about individualized funding has played an important role in defining new terms for understanding disability policy and encouraged many people who work for positive change (Stainton, 2000). Less has been said about the dynamics of individualized funding. A discus- sion of the dynamics of individualized funding turns on the question,
“How will individualized funding drive the changes necessary to develop services that offer highly customized assistance?”
