JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Friday, February 2, 2007 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - A bill that offers people choices in long-term care easily passed the Senate Thursday, but with only about half the state dollars the original measure called for.
Senate File 89, sponsored by the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee, passed the Senate on a 22-6 roll-call vote and now goes to the House.
The original bill requested about $7 million in general fund dollars. The bill now allocates about $3.5 million in state money.
"I would have liked to have had more money, but the Appropriations Committee did a responsible job," said Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, the committee chairman.
He said he expects to be back in the budget session next year to seek increased reimbursement to the people who work in the home- and community-based waiver program for Medicaid recipients.
The committee bill included $1.4 million in general fund money for one year and $1.5 million in federal funds for this program. The Appropriations Committee cut that total in half.
The program provides care for people who do not need 24-hour nursing care but need help with bathing, for example.
"This is a tried and true program," Scott said Thursday. "We have people hired all over the state for when people need care and want to stay in their homes."
The bill also expands other existing programs and authorizes two main pilot projects.
"We are satisfied with how the bill came out," said Tim Summers of AARP. "It provides much-needed money for tried and true programs that help keep seniors in their homes."
Summers said his favorite program is the community-based in-home program, financed solely with state dollars, for people who cannot qualify for Medicaid.
"That is our safety net," he said.
The bill allocates $850,000 in state dollars to expand the program which helps people stay in their homes by providing such things as ramps, handicapped bathrooms and weekly cleaning services.
Although the emphasis is on people over age 60, these services are available for any adult 19 years of age or older who is at risk of going into a nursing home or institution. The people who get the services are charged a sliding fee based on income.
Summers said the programs and pilot projects in the bill provide more choices, especially for baby boomers who will want them in the years to come.
The bill also:
* Increases from 146 to 168 the number of slots in assisted living facilities for Medicaid eligible people.
* Is a move to single rooms in nursing homes for Medicaid clients.
* Authorizes a pilot program for five adult foster homes, three of them to be in towns of 30,000 or less. The adult foster care is modeled on a program in Oregon that allows five seniors to live in a house with a certified nursing assistant.
* Allocates $50,000 for planning and design for a remodeled nursing home to incorporate a more home-like atmosphere following the Greenhouse concept.
Summers said AARP is supportive of the Greenhouse concept. It's possible, he said, that state seed money can be used to get the Greenhouse project being planned in Sheridan off the ground.
These alternative long-term care programs are popular with advocates, Scott said. But when a person needs 24-hour-a-day nursing care, a nursing home is the only option except for the very wealthy who can afford nursing care at home, he added.
Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@casperstartribune.net.