Florida Medicaid Recipients Jailed in State's Nursing Homes

I’m mad about the way our elderly population—our parents, senior relatives, other loved ones and friends—are being shoved aside, tormented, victimized and abused. Why, you may ask, are we so angry about how our seniors are treated? Here’s just one example: The plight of defenseless seniors committed to nursing homes.

You’ve probably never heard of Charles Todd “Bud” Lee, although he was an award-winning photojournalist whose work has been published in Life magazine, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine and even Rolling Stone. Bud’s photo of a bleeding 12-year old boy in Newark, New Jersey, who’d been caught in the crossfire of a police shooting, graced the cover of Life in July, 1967.

Almost exactly 16 years later, however, Bud suffered a stroke that left him semi-paralyzed and landed him in a Florida nursing home.

It turns out that Florida law requires nursing home care for Medicaid recipients, rather than allowing them to live wherever they choose. Again: Medicaid recipients in Florida have to live in nursing homes—not in their own homes, for example, or in senior apartments, or even in assisted-living facilities.

Bud is still living in the Community Care Center in Plant City, Florida, an involuntary resident, and he’s really angry.

Full Editorial and Source:
Florida Medicaid Recipients Jailed in State's Nursing Homes