Long-Term Care - Illinois General Assembly

• Expand the range of services available to help seniors live independently, and make those
choices real, especially in an environment where people are staying at home with higher
and higher acuity levels, by providing State funds for home-delivered meals, transportation
and personal emergency response systems under our current Medicaid waiver. Improve
access to health care and therapeutic services to help older adults manage chronic illnesses
and disabilities more effectively. This was promised in 2000, but never realized because
state funds were not appropriated. If the funds had been available, Medicaid reimbursement
would have been available for those meals, for those trips, and for those devices that enable
people to live at home safely. This should also include empowering and training case
managers, so that they can access more complex medical services for the clients who need
the help. Area Agencies on Aging
• Increase the non-exempt asset limit for the Community Care Program under the Department
on Aging from 10,000 to 20,000. Alzheimer’s Association
• There should be consistent, impartial case management referral agencies, without ties to a
particular provider agency, to assess an individual’s needs and serve as a resource to
clients and families, and to assemble the best array of services in the community to meet a
client’s needs. Illinois Council on Long Term Care (ICLTC)
• Revise the formula used to determine for how many hours of home care the state will pay for
people over 65, so it is an honest comparison of home care and nursing home care for each
individual. When Illinois initiated its Home/Community Care waiver, the state paid for up to 8
to 10 hours of home care a day for people, because paying for up to that many hours was
still cheaper than paying for nursing home care. Now the state pays for maybe 4 hours a
day. This isn't because nursing home care has gotten cheaper in comparison to home care.
In fact, the opposite is true. It's because the formula has been distorted to artificially lower
the number of hours for which people are eligible. This formula, and the assessment
process, need to be made honest, again. Illinois Citizens for Better Care (ICBC)
• Increase funding for the Adult Day Services reimbursement and transportation line items.
Adult daycare is much more than respite. Adult day care plays an important role in the
continuum of care, with the potential not only to delay nursing home placement, but to also
reduce hospitalization and other acute healthcare costs. Alzheimer’s Association
• There is a shortage of affordable, accessible housing for seniors and persons with
disabilities. Illinois should expand the number and breadth of its existing home-sharing
programs, both for full-time residences and for day-time only care, so elderly adults can be
cared for while their family members are working. Tie home-sharing into the Assistive
Technology project, and existing Medicare funding for occupational therapists, who can do
home visits, assess individuals, and make recommendations about what equipment and
home adaptations can allow disabled elderly people to stay home safely. Illinois Citizens for
Better Care (ICBC)
• Convert “202” housing stock to assisted living facilities. The U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) administers the “Section 202 Supportive Housing for the
Elderly Program, which provides capital advances to finance the construction and
rehabilitation of structures that will serve as supportive housing for very low-income elderly
persons and provides rent subsidies for the projects to help make them affordable. The
program helps expand the supply of affordable housing with supportive services for the
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