As Budget Shortfalls Force Reductions in Home Care, Low-Income People May Face Nursing Homes, Advocates SayFaced with widening budget shortfalls, several states are rolling back support services for the elderly and disabled.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 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.
Advocates say that 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.
In surveys, the elderly and disabled say they prefer to avoid nursing homes and receive less-restrictive care in their own communities.
Pruned Programs:
* With the economy slowing, cash-strapped states are cutting services for the elderly and disabled
* The cuts are making it harder for some vulnerable people to stay in their own homes
* Waiting lists for home and community-based services are lengthening
* Many states expect to make further cuts in the coming year, as budgets continue to tighten
JoAnn Lamphere, director of state government relations at AARP: "We are beginning to see serious cuts and we are expecting those cuts to get worse."
Full Article and Source:
States Cut Services for Elderly, Disabled
1 comment:
I say cut the funding to the prisoners, direct that money to those who did not commit any crimes.
Nice way to treat the old folks, yank them out of their confort zones their homes, drag them to the nursing home where they have to share a room with others for the rest of their lives.
What a selfish, rotten way to say hey thanks for all you did to build this country for....us!
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