Wall Street Journal's Rundown of LTC Cuts
Health care stakeholders hoped this week the lame-duck session of Congress would examine a stimulus package that includes an increase to the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP), the federal matching funds that states receive to fund their Medicaid programs.
Many states, such as New York, are threatening to cut Medicaid to make up for budget shortfalls.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal story, at least 15 states, including Alabama, Virginia and Massachusetts, are targeting funding for programs that allow low-income direct-care consumers to receive personal care in their own homes.
The story says the cutbacks are exacerbating the already long waiting lists for home-care support services in many states. With forced reductions due to state budget shortfalls, the low-income elderly and disabled may be forced into nursing homes.
Continue reading ‘States Target LTC Funds and Await Stimulus Package’
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This is the second in a series examining how state budget cuts are affecting long-term care across America.
New York lawmakers took no action in Tuesday’s emergency state legislative session on budget cuts proposed by Gov. David Paterson. The cutting of state and matching federal funds could have meant over $300 million in multiyear reductions to home care. Continue reading ‘Coping with LTC Budget Cuts — New York’
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Injured vet Tammy Duckworth
We’ve long been warned how unprepared this country is for the number of young men and women who will return home from the Iraq War with mental and physical disabilities.
American military casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan have exceeded 28,000. Statistics show that 80 percent of the wounded are in the 18-30 age range and face an entire lifetime of recovery, adding to an already strained long-term care system that lacks a stable, well-trained workforce. Continue reading ‘Families of Young Vets Struggle with Caregiving’
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