And we all know who calls Congre$$ home.
"Home care cutbacks put strain on elderly; Plans sacrificed to trim budgets" July 17, 2011|By John Seewer and Shaya Tayefe Mohajer, Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio - Born with cerebral palsy, Jennifer McPhail relies on a home health aide to help her get dressed for work and ready for bed at night.
Her motorized wheelchair keeps her active, working as an organizer with a disability rights group in Austin, Texas, and volunteering to help people find housing and to staff hurricane shelters. She now fears deep reductions in the state’s Medicaid spending will prevent her from living independently.
“What it says to me is that the state doesn’t value the lives of people with disabilities,’’ said McPhail, 39. “A lot of people are going to be hurt in a very intimate way.’’
Well, they do value some.
It’s a concern facing families across the nation as states with budget deficits cut home health services that help keep the elderly and disabled out of nursing homes.
Also see: Nursing Home Profits
Notice they always have plenty of money for wars, empire, and debt service?
States are reducing how much time a nurse can spend making house calls and ending meal deliveries for the homebound. Many also are gutting adult day-care programs that give seniors a safe place to spend their days while relatives work.
Aging and disability services in three out of four states have been reduced during the past two years or face cuts, even though demand is increasing....
Home-health services are an easy target for budget-cutters because they are not required by federal law, have been subject to fraud, and don’t have deep-pocketed special interests advocating for them.
Some don't need 'em; they are already there.
Steep cuts in these services eventually could cost states more money by pushing more people from their houses to nursing homes that would require taxpayer subsidies....
The price of an adult day health center is $67 a day on average, compared with $229 a day for a private room at a nursing home, according to a 2010 survey released by MetLife Inc.
Overall, Medicaid spending on nursing homes came to $46.5 billion in 2007, the latest figures available, while home health services cost $6.3 billion, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services....
One problem for home health care programs is image. Some lawmakers say lax regulation makes the program susceptible to fraud....
In Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick has proposed cutting $55 million from the state’s adult day-care program, two-thirds of its funding.
Among them is the 81-year-old mother of Irva Almonor....
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Related:
"Legislators also agreed last week to change legal language in the recently passed sales tax hike to assure credit agencies that $100 million earmarked for the Turnpike Authority would go toward paying off Big Dig debt"
Yeah, never you mind the MILLIONS of dollars a MONTH going to DEBT SERVICE PAYMENTS to BANKS!
Also see:
Memory Hole: Massachusetts' State Budget
Mass. State Budget: Screwing Cities and Towns
Uniting With Hollywood
Oh, but the state had $82 million to hand profitable Hollywood last year?
