How are we going to pay for this?
Monday, May 22, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* As Mark Brown notes, there is little doubt that the cost of the CCP program is becoming unwieldy…
Driving the debate is that enrollment of seniors in the state’s Community Care Program jumped from 40,965 enrollees in 2005 to 83,787 in 2015.
When coupled with projections the population of Illinois residents age 60 or older will more than double by 2030, there’s even some agreement the cost of the current program is unsustainable.
* Now, who do you believe when it comes to devising a better solution?…
If Rauner had a better track record on social service issues, instead of using the poor and sick as pawns in his political battles, it might be easier to give him some leeway to try it his way.
As it is, there’s not much reason to trust him.
Organizations that provide homemaker services are some of the same groups struggling to stay in business during the budget impasse because the state owes them millions of dollars.
And not coincidentally, most of the home care workers who would be directly affected by the cutbacks are members of SEIU Healthcare, one of the unions Rauner especially despises for its Democratic political activism.
Go read the rest before commenting, please.
- Try-4-Truth - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 9:38 am:
Here’s the deal. The demographic tsunami that is going to overtake Illinois’ (and America’s for that matter) social safety net did not sneak up on anyone. In an effort to cut, cut, cut conservatives like Bruce Rauner have forgotten that senior citizens make up a surprisingly large share of entitlement spending.
The CRP is what it’s name implies - CRAP. It does little except encourage senior poverty and begin the rapid warehousing of our state’s seniors in long-term-care facilities.
The CCUs and the CCP program was designed to save money and keep seniors in their homes. I wonder what Gov. Rauner will do when medicaid beds cost the state twice as much as the CCP? This, ladies and gentleman, is the real “death panel”.
- illini - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 9:46 am:
Granted this is a serious issue and one that should concern every family with elderly relatives. One part of the states proposal that I found most laughable was to have Uber take responsibility for driving driving these adults to their Doctors appointments.
How many downstate, largely rural communities even have these options available?
My father had to see his cardiologist 6 times a year in West St. Louis County - a 150 mile round trip for me.
I doubt any ride sharing service would make this trip and I doubly doubt that they would be willing to wait to eventually or maybe get paid by the state.
- Honeybear - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 10:04 am:
This is a fine example of the immorality, the profit uber alles of the Rauner Administration.
Rauner prioritizes 49,000,000 to Rivian, an “auto manufacturer” that’s never produced a single car, will only have about two dozen jobs in state for the next three years ( refer to the EDGE agreement found online at DCEO website)
Over caregivers for seniors
A money saving, dignity promoting program
But it’s not profitable to Rauner
Immorality + perfidious solution= the Rauner way
- illinifan - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 10:06 am:
Let’s look at potential impact. More seniors wind up in nursing homes. I believe current data shows that about 80% of nursing home care is covered through Medicaid (this occurs after the senior has exhausted their assets paying for the care). Who is a friend of nursing homes and profits from them, Rauner. Could there be a direct line on this and the decision process? Is this good for Illinois citizens or is it good for Rauner and his funders?
- stateandlake - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 10:12 am:
When CRP was originally proposed, the example given was sending out seniors’ laundry rather than having the home care worker do it. I had to laugh because CCP workers typically put in a load of laundry, then do other tasks while the washer and/or dryer are running. It would take about as long for the worker to bag up the laundry and haul it to the lobby? then return to the apartment as it does to throw in the load. You think the senior is going to be able to drag it down there?
Set the short-term cost slashing goal first, then throw rationalizations up against the wall and see what sticks. SMH…
- Responsa - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 10:13 am:
I don’t think the ride sharing idea works at all for IL seniors far outside of the city. But maybe in the city and suburbs it is a very good solution. There do not always need to be one-size-fits-all solutions for everything, because not all problems are static or universal. Where one lives in this state and what options are available should dictate the solution.
- Anon221 - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 10:13 am:
How many Uber cars are equipped for people who may have limited mobility? The ones I’ve been in are not exactly wheelchair accessible. Will Uber drivers have insurance to cover injuries that may occur when elderly riders have to get in and out of the car?
Another “solution” I had heard from a CRP spokesperson was that some money could be used to move washers and dryers up from the basement to the main floor so the elder could do their own laundry. Might work for some, but as eyesight and mobility issues become more of an issue for a person, not a real solution for the long run.
- Mike Cirrincione@ - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 10:24 am:
@try a truth:
Your right about the “demographic tsunami”. 100 years ago, Penicillin hadnt even been discovered yet. Life expectancy was shorter and so was the cause of mortality. Its no secret. No such thing as a hip replacement, you got sick….and died.
Know what one of the biggest Government Entitlement Programs is?
Mortgage welfare. Commonly known as the Mortgage Interest Deduction. Its a Government Entitlement Program albeit just administered thru the tax code. And its causing an Economic Tsunami.
- Puddintaine - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 10:33 am:
Reverse mortgages are the answer! Sign up in the next ninety minutes and you can choose from a motorized chair or DVD/vcr, each signed by Magnum PI and The Scarecrow and MrsKing. First 30 approved applicants will also receive our exclusive large font flip phone. Act now!
- NoGifts - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 11:20 am:
Really a whole column about it an nowhere does it say how much the program costs per client, or in total? How are we supposed to know if saving 120m is a lot? Or if it is even costing a lot? Apparently Mark Brown is not a journalist.
- Try-4-Truth - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 11:50 am:
=== - NoGifts - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 11:20 am:
Really a whole column about it an nowhere does it say how much the program costs per client, or in total? How are we supposed to know if saving 120m is a lot? Or if it is even costing a lot? Apparently Mark Brown is not a journalist.===
CCP accounts for, roughly, 80% of IDOA’s total budget. Also, there are many “Consent Decrees” that cover how the money is to be spent.
Gov. Rauner’s ultimate goal here is to remove approx. 50% of the clients using CCP from the consent decrees. Once they are on the CRaP, then Illinois is no longer legally bound to care for them. In a year or two, CRaP can be terminated, and these clients will be left out in the cold. You don’t have to believe me, but I’d bet my winnings on Cloud Computing that this is the end game here.
- Huh? - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 11:52 am:
“If Rauner had a better track record on social service issues, …”
Too bad 1.4% doesn’t have a social agenda. Oh wait, he does have one and it is to crush social services to create a crisis to drive a wedge between the Democrats and AFSCME.
- Aldyth - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 12:29 pm:
How many of the very elderly have to be accompanied on doctor appointments with someone who can answer questions on their behalf, because they may not remember the information or understand the question? How many seniors need help in understanding what the doctor said to them?
My mother is eligible for nursing home care. That’s where she would be without home health care and that she lives in my home. I take her to most medical appointments, but if I absolutely cannot, her home health care worker takes her. My hearing impaired mother misunderstands about half of what’s said to her, even with hearing aids.
An Uber driver is no solution.
- Last Bull Moose - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 1:01 pm:
Use this and similar programs as a rationale for taxing currently exempt retiree income. (I know this is probably a non-starter politically. At least this ties to a senior related program.)
- James Knell - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 1:01 pm:
== Too bad 1.4% doesn’t have a social agenda. Oh wait, he does have one and it is to crush social services to create a crisis to drive a wedge between the Democrats and AFSCME. ==
Crush social services done; done.
Drive a wedge between the Democrats and AFSCME? Only a Democrat like Pat Quinn can pull that off, lol. Back to the drawing board, Rauerites.
I guess they think that TV saturation can save them. I guess we will see in time.
- CCP Hostage - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 8:27 pm:
Further, while the number of people aged 60 and over is growing, Illinois’s nursing home population did not increase because of the Community Care Program.
- CCP Hostage - Monday, May 22, 17 @ 8:30 pm:
And even more importantly, not all of those people entering the 60 plus age category are going to need state funded CCP. Many won’t be that ill, of those who are ill, many will pay for their own needs or their family will. Of those that can’t there are more options, such as supportive living, before anyone needs CCP. The tsunami as it relates to CCP is highly exaggerated.