Governor Doyle Column: Seniors Deserve Affordable Long Term Care Choices

Governor Doyle Column: Seniors Deserve Affordable Long Term Care Choices

As we get older, we all hope we have the choice to live independently in our homes, surrounded by family and loved ones. I know firsthand about how important this is because my family has had to face this decision with my 89-year-old mother. Given the state of her Parkinson's disease she needs to be in a nursing home; but there are thousands of other seniors who neither want nor need to be there.

Even though nursing home care is not necessary for everyone, many seniors are being denied the choice. Long term care is becoming more and more expensive, but - in many cases - the only kind of care that Medicaid will pay for is nursing homes. Seniors are often forced to totally exhaust their life savings before they get any assistance at all. They often worry about becoming a burden on their families or they simply have no where else to turn other than a nursing home.

We need to make community-based long term care more affordable for Wisconsin families who need it. No one should be forced into a nursing home simply because they can't afford it.

There is a way that we can provide middle-class families across Wisconsin with an affordable option, so their loved ones can live independently with dignity. It's called Family Care, a successful pilot program which makes it affordable for people to move out of nursing homes and receive community-based long term care right in their homes. In five counties across Wisconsin approximately 9,400 seniors and people with disabilities have healthier independent lives because of Family Care.

Unfortunately, there are more than 11,500 people stuck on long waiting lists because they don't have access to this innovative program. Some have to wait months or years and many lose hope - but they shouldn't have to.

Our loved ones deserve better. That's why in January, I proposed that we eliminate waiting lists by expanding Family Care statewide. After all, the purpose of a pilot program is to start small and see if it works. With Family Care, we started small and achieved huge success.

There is more great news: we have shown that Family Care actually saves the state money. Wisconsin taxpayers save $452 per month for every individual enrolled in Family Care, instead of a nursing home.

This month, Republicans and Democrats in the state Senate came together and unanimously passed a bill to eliminate restrictions on Family Care. I thank Senators Carol Roessler and Julie Lassa as well as Representatives Dean Kaufert and Jennifer Shilling for their leadership on this important issue. I hope that the state Assembly will follow the Senate's example, so that we can offer middle class families across Wisconsin an affordable option for long term care. In the meantime, I will continue my efforts to make long term care more affordable to middle class families across Wisconsin.

I will keep thinking about Mrs. Betty Miller from Adams County, who moved into a nursing home a few years ago with her husband because he got sick. After she broke her hip, the family sold their home. Her husband later passed away, and even though her hip had healed, she had nowhere to go. But because of an initiative by my administration to help seniors who want to move out of nursing homes, Betty moved out of the nursing home in December and into a furnished apartment of her own. I had the opportunity to meet her recently and she is filled with all the hope and dignity that comes from living independently in a community-based long-term care situation.

Many of Wisconsin seniors are exactly like Betty Miller. They have played by the rules and worked hard their entire lives, but are now left to worry about whether they can afford long term care, should they need it.

Our goal in expanding Family Care is not to save money - although we will. Our goal is to provide Wisconsin seniors with affordable long term care choices that allow them to live independently with dignity, no matter the cost because that's what they deserve.

http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/journal_media_detail.asp?locid=19&prid=1823