TERRE HAUTE —
A group of senior advocates is seeking the use of state general funds to pay Indiana’s match for Medicaid, allowing more money for CHOICE, a program that helps seniors stay in their homes.
Representatives of the Indiana Home Care Task Force, United Senior Action of Indiana and the Indiana Alliance for Retired Americans said Friday in a news conference in Terre Haute that $18.1 million of CHOICE funds are being used for the Medicaid match, which they said should be paid from the state’s general fund.
Of the nearly $48.8 million appropriated by the Indiana General Assembly for CHOICE through next year, up to $18.1 million may be used by the state for a Medicaid match through next June.
However, because the state has $2.2 billion in reserve, some of that should be used for Medicaid matching money for the aged and disabled Medicaid waiver and the traumatic brain injury Medicaid waiver, said John Cardwell, chairman of the Indiana Home Care Task Force.
“Right now we have 6,100 people in Indiana on a waiting list for services in the CHOICE program. We have never had a situation historically where we have had so much money in the state treasury. We have always been told in the past we can’t get rid of the waiting list because it costs a lot of money,” Cardwell said.
“Right now we have way more dollars than we need to serve any and all Hoosiers who do not have the means of their own and who qualify for and need home care through the CHOICE program. The money is there now,” Cardwell said, adding that without home care support, many Hoosiers are moved into nursing homes, which costs the state $45,000 to $54,000 annually, as compared to $4,000 to $7,500 annually for CHOICE.
There are 2,800 Hoosiers on the state’s Medicaid aged and disabled waiting list and 97 on the waiting list for Medicaid’s brain injury waiver.
Marni Lemons, spokeswoman for the Family and Social Services Administration, said Medicaid is not strictly for nursing homes.
“We share their interest in moving people to an in-home setting as well and we think that home-based care is the best and is certainly the least expensive way to serve people,” Lemons said.
“Getting more people in home-based care is a mission we both share,” Lemons said. “Medicaid is for the neediest of the needy. In order to qualify for Medicaid, you have to meet an income requirement which you don’t have to for CHOICE,” Lemons said.
CHOICE is entirely funded by the state, while the federal government will provide the state with a 2-to-1 match on funds for Medicaid.
“We found a way that we could make $18.1 million into $54 million. We see that as a positive,” Lemons said. “Because of our doing that, we have been able to reduce the waiting list on the Medicaid A&D list from 4,200 to 2,800,” she said, adding the state has a goal of reducing that list to zero by the end of the year.
“We have been working with area agencies on aging statewide and we believe it is a legitimate goal … and are in the process of cleaning waiting lists now,” Lemons said.
Cardwell argues it is an unrealistic goal which can only be met by making eligibility requirements stricter.
Cardwell was part of the home care task force started in 1986 and helped draft the state statue in 1987, authored by former State Rep. John Thomas, R-Brazil. Cardwell said the advocacy groups are seeking “that going forward in terms of Indiana policy, as it is applied, make home care the first and foremost choice for anyone needing long-term care services in our state.”
Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
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Advocates seek state funds for seniors
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