Opinion: Leave Wisconsin LTC Alone

MILWAUKEE — Governor Walker’s 2015-17 budget proposal would dismantle Wisconsin’s nationally admired long term care (LTC) system that provides critical supports to people with disabilities and older adults to enable them to stay in their own homes and avoid costly institutional  care. Family Care and IRIS currently serve nearly 55,000 older adults and individuals with developmental or physical disabilities, all of whom qualify for a nursing home level of care. These programs, unlike acute and primary health care, provide daily personal supports (such as help with bathing, dressing, and meal preparation), and transportation and support for work and community activities.

Feds Ordered Wisconsin to Lift Cap

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker failed to reveal that the federal government had ordered him to immediately lift an enrollment cap on a state program to help the disabled and elderly stay out of nursing homes, instead telling reporters that his administration removed restrictions after identifying tens of millions of dollars in efficiencies in the program.

Families of Disabled Question How Cuts Save Costs

JACKSON, Tenn. -- Lynn Johnson described her 35-year-old son Anthony as blind, with cerebral palsy and functioning mentally at the age of 6 months.

"He has to do diapers, be fed; everything must be done on him," she said. "He's like taking care of a 100-pound baby," Johnson said.

For about 1,827 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, state funding cuts drove a reduction in one-on-one nursing services to 12 hours a day and limited personal assistance services to 215 hours a month. The cuts left Tennessee families with a choice between coping with personal aid services for fewer hours or transferring loved ones to some form of communal living with shared staffing.
Johnson is one of about 600 who have filed complaints with the Office of Civil Rights in Atlanta against the state of Tennessee.

She said cutting disability funding according to living style — supported living or family-provided care — is discriminatory.

But Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Jim Henry said fighting such lawsuits takes more money away from those who need it.

"Let me just remind people we spent $20 million on lawsuits," he said. "In the last 20 years, those kinds of things drive resources for people and services."

The Office of Civil Rights will investigate 45 complaints in a first round of investigations that will set a precedent for the other cases, Johnson said.

Families Fear Wisconsin Cap on Program

APPLETON, Wis. — Local families are deeply worried about a state budget proposal to cap enrollment in Family Care, the state's long-term care and community-based support program for people with disabilities and the elderly.
The potential consequences are enough to keep Steve and Agnes Behnke of Kaukauna up at night when they consider the future of their 9-year-old daughter, who has significant physical impairment, some cognitive delays and uses a wheelchair.
"Abbie is still in school but it's a constant concern," said Steve Behnke. "What will happen to her when one or both of us can't care for her?"