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LONG-TERM CARE: Inadequate Options
A Time to Reform
This issue of Our Voices focuses on Medicaid Long-Term Care reform and a concept known as Money Follows the Person.
Everybody is living longer. That is great news! However, almost everyone will eventually need some kind of support to carry out life activities: assistance with dressing, mobility, cooking, cleaning, memory, decision-making, or bathing.
Surveys have shown that most people (97%) want to stay in their own homes when they need assistance. Yet, most people (89%) do not know that there are ways that they can live safely and well at home. They think that a nursing home is the only choice they have.
There are two programs in Michigan for people who need long-term care and supports: the Home Help program and the MIChoice waiver. These programs are known as home- and community-based services (HCBS). Medicaid makes nursing home services an entitlement, available to everyone who needs it. Unlike nursing homes, home- and community-based services are not an entitlement. Fortunately, every state can decide to spend Medicaid money in the community rather than in nursing homes.
Table of Contents:
- Did You Know?
- Myths and Realities of Long-Term Care ,
- A Time to Reform,
- Long-Term Care Reform: Supreme Court Says It's A Civil Right,
- What Can People Do?
- Join MDRC.
Did You Know?
Here are a few facts about Medicaid long-term care and home help in Michigan:
- Why everyone should pay attention to how Michigan spends long-term care money.
- Economic Sense in Hard Economic Times.
- What are the potential savings?
- What can Michigan do?
- Research indicates public support of rebalancing the system.
Link to the full article "Did You Know?".
Go back to the Table of Contents.
Myths and Realities of Long-Term Care
There are many myths about life in a nursing home or institution:
MYTH: Nursing homes exist to meet the needs of people who are very old and very "impaired," and a nursing home is the only place where their needs can be met.
REALITY: People of all ages with very complex needs are already living successfully in the community. With assistive technology, people monitor their own health and control their own environment. With home assistance, people get out of bed, dress, direct their meal preparation, and go to work. With scheduled reminders, appropriate alarms, and standard environmental aids such as electronic shutoff for stove and iron etc., people with mild dementia are living longer in their own homes, with a higher quality of life. Complex medical conditions can be monitored in the home environment. Another reality is that some people with very low needs are living in nursing homes.
Link to the full article "Myths and Realities of Long-Term Care".
Go back to the Table of Contents.
A Time to Reform
The Time Is NOW for Michigan to Reform Long-Term Care!
We propose a 5-Point Plan to:
- Make the system easier for people to use.
- Be more efficient and cost effective.
- Recognize the civil right of people to live where they choose
Link to the full article "A Time to Reform"
Go back to the Table of Contents.
Long-Term Care Reform: Supreme Court Says It's A Civil Right
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) says we have a right to receive services provided by the state in the "most integrated setting." In a Supreme Court decision, this civil right was applied to long-term care or supports in a case known as L.C. vs. Olmstead. The Supreme Court said, in essence, that unnecessary institutionalization violated the ADA. Unfortunately, we still have to fight for the right to live in the community with the care and supports we need.
Go back to the Table of Contents.
What Can People Do?
Here are some ideas for you and your group to help fight for the civil right to live in the community with adequate support:
- Learn about the long-term care system. Contact RoAnne Chaney or Carolyn LeJuste at our office to talk to your group about long-term care.
Link to the full article "What Can People Do?".
Go back to the Table of Contents.
We will have to TELL them what we want if we are going to get it!!
And we have to TELL them over and over, so they don't forget it.
FIGHT FOR MEDICAID SUPPORTS TO LIVE IN THE COMMUNITY!
