States Cut Services for Elderly, Disabled

[question everything]

Source: WSJ

As Budget Shortfalls Force Reductions in Home Care, Low-Income People May Face Nursing Homes, Advocates Say
By PHILIP SHISHKIN

Faced with widening budget shortfalls, several states are rolling back support services for the elderly and disabled. The move is making it tougher for them to continue living on their own, advocates say. At least 15 states, including Alabama, Virginia and Massachusetts, are targeting such funding, mostly for programs that allow low-income shut-ins to receive personal care -- like cooking, cleaning and basic health services -- in their own homes, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning Washington, D.C. think tank that studies state budgets.


The cutbacks are exacerbating the already long waiting lists for home-care support services in many states. That leaves the low-income elderly and disabled to dip into their meager incomes to hire their own help, reach out to family or charity, or seek more restrictive and expensive care in a nursing home, advocates say.

As the economy falters, declining revenues and tax receipts have led state agencies to cut spending, with 41 states facing current or looming deficits, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Services for the elderly and disabled are just one of the areas facing cuts. But the cuts hit hard because the population is especially vulnerable. "The call volume is increasing exponentially and the people are desperate," says Sarah Lightell, chief operating officer at the Senior Resource Alliance, which uses state funds to provide home-care services to the elderly in central Florida.

(snip)

In surveys, the elderly and disabled say they prefer to avoid nursing homes and receive less-restrictive care in their own communities. Through the Medicaid program for the needy, the government has encouraged home-based care in recent years, since nursing homes cost far more per person. In 2006, the federal/state program spent about $47 billion on nursing-home care and $15 billion on home- and community-based services. Some officials say that the savings community-based care is supposed to generate are often illusory. When eligibility is expanded, critics argue, people who would never enter nursing homes come out of the woodwork to get government funding. This "woodwork effect" only adds to the overall cost.





Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122714130153442755.html

[Crazy Dave]

1. They did that here in my city too but...

Somehow they found tens of millions to build an over the top, showcase, city owned and operated equestrian center so all the folks with $100k plus horses and $60k horse trailers can go show off.

[Roland99]

2. Grover Norquist must be wetting himself with glee at this news.

fucking repukes

[jwirr]

3. They are thinking short term not long term. Nursing home care is extremely

expensive. 24 hour care vs. having a minimum wage worker come in for 2-3 hours a week? Most of these programs were created to stop spending big bucks on people who did not really need 24 hour care.

[deek]

5. $9,500 vs $55,000 per year

Is what the advocates are quoting.

[KamaAina]

6. Hopefully personal care attendants aren't making minimum wage!

Out here, we have enough trouble keeping them at $10-12/hr.!

[jwirr]

8. Ours make more than minimum wage also but the point is it is still

cheaper.

[KamaAina]

10. Absolutely. You have no idea how hard it is to get legislators, etc., to understand that.

This is part and parcel of my work. You cannot imagine how thick-headed these people can be. And I mean Dems!

[jwirr]

13. I lobbied for this process here in Minnesota in respect to persons

with developmental disabilities when we first set ours up. In my case it was easier because my daughter had been abused no less than 6 times and the institution had conveniently failed to notify me. So when I came at them I set that on their plate before talking about the other home truths. What I do not understand is why they would even want that old system back. What is in it for them?

[deek]

21. Follow the Money

Who owns the nursing homes?

[Pastiche423]

25. The nursing home lobbyists

are one of the most powerful group of all.

They want people's SS money, but sure as hell won't do the work. Nursing homes are notorious for lax and sometimes inexistent care. Yet it is not the workers fault. It's the greedy fucking nursing home owners.

Study after study has been done showing the tremendous amount of money that can be saved by in-home care as opposed to nursing home care. But it doesn't matter. The greedy fuckers want "their" money.

I'd rather kill myself, than go into one of those killing places.

[deek]

20. $8/hr...CA minimum wage

Most of the ones I interview are people who can't get a job at McDs.

[Lars39]

4. Do the "woodwork" patients qualify?

Then they need the services.

[KamaAina]

7. "the elderly and disabled say they prefer to avoid nursing homes"

It's not just a good idea. It's the law! In a rare moment of lucidity, the Rehnquist Court decided 6-3, in Olmstead v. L.C., that two Georgia women living in a state institution had a right under the ADA to live in the community. The decision specifically states that cost alone cannot constitute a "fundamental alteration" of states' programs.

http://www.chhs.ca.gov/initiatives/Olmstead/Documents/OlmsteadBackgroundFinal.pdf

Expect lots and lots of Olmstead cases, coming soon to a courtroom near you.

[question everything]

11. Was not aware of it. Good to know

Thanks for brining this up.

[deek]

22. You mean the law really matters?

I've had 2 administrative law judges tell me straight out that they didn't care what the law said. (During appeals for services when I cited specific quotes from the law.)

[MasonJar]

9. I haven't heard about the elderly, but our Kentucky guv, Governor Beshear,

a dem of course, has set up an enlarged program for children's health care and is inviting (almost begging) parents to sign up.

[sarcasmo]

12. This country makes me sick in the way we treat our people.

[Ilsa]

26. Yeah, our elderly and disabled of all ages.

My father, 82, doesn't want to move into a nursing home, an we are doing everythng we can to help him remain at home, even with his Parkinsons Disease. Having assistance at home will be so much cheaper than moving him to a nursing home.

[Sivafae]

14. But when you consider just HOW much of the budget goes to these people, they really have no excuse

to cut these people's services.
What a load of crap.

[LeftishBrit]

15. That is awful - not surprised though - it's a problem in the UK too

How about governments spending a bit less on their own perks and more on the elderly people who need it the most?

[Mnemosyne]

16. An example: My daughter didn't receive her

PHEAA(Pennsylvania Higher Education Assoc.) grant to help pay her tuition, a term or two ago, due to incompetence in the financial aid office.

It was later reported in the newspapers that PHEAA had thrown a $150,000 'picnic' for themselves and received "perks" from student loan bankers in exchange for steering students to their loans.

That money would have made such a world of difference to many low-income students. I ended up taking out a terrible loan to help her out.

Greedy and selfish pricks.

[KakistocracyHater]

17. mrsa & other germs in nursing homes are a problem

it's madness that they are cutting services when the Fed Gov SHOULD be CREATING MORE of these jobs. Their "values" are showing what they're willing to do away with first & what they're holding on to last(the rich who outsource jobs).

[du_grad]

18. Bad bacteria in nursing homes a reality

Our lab does microbiology culture work for 25+ nursing homes in our geographical area. We see extremely resistant bacteria from these patients all the time - especially from indwelling foley catheter urines. Some of the susceptibility patterns show up as resistant to ALL drugs except maybe one or two (expensive ones, of course). I am not kidding when I say "wash your hands" often if you have to visit these facilities. Make sure your kids wash their hands also if you visit someone and don't take toddlers or infants to these places if you can help it. You don't want them touching environmental surfaces and putting their hands in their mouths. Yechhh!

Putting all these people in nursing homes when they could be home with minimal care is a recipe for infection control disaster. The politicians do not realize the hugely high costs of controlling infections in these types of facilities.

My mother is 87 years old and is receiving care for 10 hours a week (two hours a day in the morning) to enable her to live independently through a program sponsored by the state of Ohio. I got her qualified in June for this after a hospitalization in May. I hope that this program will be able to keep this going, but who knows in the light of the extremely bad outlook for our state? The auto industry is also entrenched in the northern part of the state and what happens to Detroit will also happen to Toledo and Cleveland. The layoffs have already started. GM's PowerTrain plant laid off 110 employees and Jeep cancelled its second shift already. The city's budget is already in the toilet and it's going to get even worse before it gets better.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081120/BUSINESS02/811200285

[undergroundpanther]

19. Kill kill kill the poor.

Fuckers.I hate the rich. I HATE them.

when will people realize the greedy create the needy?
We need to TAKE the wealth back FROM those who have taken TOO MUCH.Take it from the rich by progressive taxation or by force,I don't care which as long as it happens,because We need to help the poor,the disabled, the old,etc..
The rich will always be parasites they have too much and share nothing with others,they are pigs.We need to pull the rich pig jowls out of the trough of our collective wealth..The rich are too fucking greedy to be trusted to be fair or even generous by themselves..

[Shallah Kali]

23. Any second now those Pro-Life R-Congress Persons & W will rush a bill through to save our elderly

Any.

Second.

***sounds of crickets***

Oh. I forgot Pro-life only counts when it is fetal or Terry Schavio.

[KakistocracyHater]

24. good call & great idea-shackle them

to how they treat the elderly & poor, this should be sop response by all pro-birth control people, like how Hollywood pushed condom use to prevent hiv-it worked, it was organized, even though it was a little annoying. I wish they'd unite again-we need concerted efforts in many areas.