CHICAGO (AP) — Budget cuts to programs that deliver meals to homebound seniors in Illinois may force some frail elderly into nursing homes, a more expensive option for both the individuals and the state, advocates say.
Illinois lawmakers so far have protected most money
for home health services, despite the state's serious financial problems. But
they've whittled back programs that don't receive federal matching money, such
as home-delivered meals.
The state's recently passed budget includes a cut
of $2.2 million in funding for home-delivered meals and other services for
aging residents, a reduction of nearly 14 percent from the previous year.
Meanwhile, the need is increasing along with the
elderly population. Illinois saw a 22 percent increase in residents age 85 and
older from 2000 to 2010, according to U.S. Census data.
The loss of a home-delivered meal can be the
tipping point that forces an elderly person into a nursing home, said David
Vinkler of AARP Illinois. Most nursing home care in the United States is paid
for by Medicaid, the federal and state program.
"It really makes no sense for the state to go
that direction," Vinkler said. "People want to live in their homes
and it's costing the state less when they do."
Vinkler said it's difficult to predict how many
people will be affected by the cut to delivered meals and other similar
services for the elderly living at home. About 40,000 Illinois residents
receive, on average, three to four home-delivered meals per week. The amount of
the cut represents about 400,000 meals, or enough to serve about 2,400 clients.
In the Chicago suburbs, case managers for the
not-for-profit Age Options will start making tough choices about who gets meals
and who doesn't, said Jonathan Lavin, the agency's president.
"People coming out of hospitals will be the
first ones to be affected," Lavin said. Those people want to live at home,
and can with a little assistance, but they now may be denied delivered meals,
he said.
The cuts will mean the agency serves meals to 3,900
individuals in suburban Cook County instead of 4,580, Lavin said. Some
recipients make donations toward their meals and many of the delivery drivers
are volunteers, he said, so it's a cost-effective way to help.
Bellwood resident Joe Lagen, 67, pays $18 a week
for state-subsidized hot lunches that are delivered to his door Monday through
Friday.
The program provides his only nutritionally
balanced meal each day, he said. He doesn't drive anymore because of severe
dizziness caused by cardiovascular disease. His wife, Doris, died in 1996. She
was the cook in the family, he said, and he misses her casseroles.
For his evening meal, Lagen makes himself a bowl of
soup or a sandwich.
The meal program gives Lagen's children some
assurance that someone is checking on him every day and will call authorities
if he doesn't answer his door, he said. For Lagen, a retired village official,
it also is a break from isolation and loneliness.
"I sit here in the morning and wait for that
white truck to pull up and my friend brings the boxes to the door and we
chat," Lagen said. "It's a real pleasure and you don't have too many
of those in life as you get older."
In Illinois, home health care hasn't experienced
the cuts seen in other states, but the state government's months-long, $4
billion backlog in paying bills makes it difficult for providers, said Darby
Anderson, an executive at Palatine-based Addus HealthCare. The publicly traded
company gets about 40 percent of its revenue from the state of Illinois and
provides home health care services to 12,000 people in 96 counties.
The company now waits for payment up to 120 days
from Illinois, Anderson said. The unpredictability makes it difficult for the
company to work with banks on financing, he said.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
