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LOCAL

JOURNAL STAR B
Wednesday, October 1, 2003

[Headline] Funds sought for home care

[Subheading] State Capitol rally is held to bolster support for MiCASSA, which would shift federal Medicaid money to community-based services.

BY MARK ANDERSEN
Lincoln Journal Star

Bundled against the cold as he spoke from his wheelchair in support of increased home-care funding, Tim Kolb explained the issue in terms a child could follow.

In "Finding Nemo," Kolb said, a clown fish found himself among pleasant companions in a supposedly safe environment, the office aquarium of an eccentric dentist. Yet, more than anything else, Nemo wanted to return to his ocean home.

In the real world, Kolb said, too many Americans find themselves forced to live in nursing homes because of inadequate funding for home-based care.

About 50 people withstood a cold wind on the Capitol steps at noon Tuesday for the Free Our People rally, intended to raise support for the Medicaid Community-Based Attendant Services and Supports Act, dubbed MiCASSA by disability rights activists.

First introduced in the House in 1997 and in the Senate in 1999, MiCASSA would shift Medicaid funds from nursing homes to community-based services and establish a national program of services.

Supporters say it would end the institutional bias of Medicaid, the federal medical program for the poor that also pays for a lot of nursing home care.

Under the current system, every state that receives Medicaid is required to provide nursing home services. but providing community-based services is optional. As a result, 75 percent of long-term Medicaid dollars go to nursing homes, MiCASSA supporters say.

The issue is of particular importance to Nebraska, which ranks second be-hind only Iowa in the percentage of people over age 65 who live in nursing homes, they say.

The difficulties of finding and paying for home-based care are an everyday is-sue for 56-year-old Laura Moore, who attended the rally Tuesday.

Moore was born with cerebral palsy, but her biggest challenge has been in finding a way to keep her husband at home.

Paul Moore, now 66, stopped breathing and swallowing following heart surgery almost two years ago because of the polio he had contracted as a teenager.

Following his lengthy hospitalization and rehabilitation, Laura Moore said, "They told me I'd never get him out of the nursing home."

He has been living at home since Sept. 17, 2002. He frequently does woodworking projects.

Unfortunately, their home-care costs run $500 more per month than their in-come, Laura Moore said.

They've exhausted their savings and inheritance, and the only advice people give her is to put her husband in a nursing home, she said.

"We're supposed to forget about living," she said.

Home-care aide Jennifer Irvin said, "It's all about the money." If Paul Moore lived in a nursing home, Irvin said, the state and federal governments would pay for his care. At home, even though the costs might be no different to taxpayers, they aren't covered.

Joan LaBelle of the League of Human Dignity, which sponsored the rally along with ADAPT Nebraska, said one woman's story illustrated the difficulties imposed by the current system.

LaBelle said she had been working with a woman for more than a year to get her out of a nursing home so that she could live with her son.

"Three weeks before she was to leave," LaBelle said, "she died."

Reach Mark Andersen at 473-7238 or mandersen@joumalstar.com.
Local news tips? Call the City Desk, 4737306 Page Design- Stem Bate

[image]
[image caption] TED KIRK/Lincoln Journal Star. The Free Our People rally was called Tuesday by the League of Human Dignity and ADAPT Nebraska in support of the Medic-aid Community-Based Attendant Services and Sup-ports Act

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Dijous 18 Juliol 2013

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Divendres 27 Novembre 2020

Àlbums

• Free Our People March, 144 miles Philadelphia to DC, September 2003

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