Pennsylvania Long-Term Care Program Gives Elderly More Independence, Reduces Costs

The federal government and states "are working hard to develop options that provide more independence and autonomy for poor elderly people and cost taxpayers less," such as a Pennsylvania program called Living Independently for Elders, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The program seeks to "give people sick enough for a nursing home another option -- to live at home, but get their medical care, socialization and even a hot meal at a center in their community" -- at a lower cost, according to the Inquirer.

As part of the effort, the federal and state governments "have increasingly freed up Medicaid dollars that traditionally were restricted to nursing home care," the Inquirer reports. Mike Hall, deputy secretary for long-term living in Pennsylvania, said that the state pays $59,000 in Medicaid funds annually for each nursing home patient, compared with $44,000 annually for each LIFE program participant.

Currently, only Pennsylvania residents who require nursing home care qualify for the LIFE program, but state officials hope to expand eligibility to other residents in the future. Most LIFE program participants qualify for Medicaid, but others can pay about $3,000 monthly to participate. The LIFE program receives about $6,533 monthly from Medicare and Medicaid to cover the health care costs of each participant (Vitez, Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/27).

Opinion Piece
Long-term care is "our nation's greatest unfunded mandate," Stuart Shapiro, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association and former health commissioner for Philadelphia, writes in a Philadelphia Inquirer opinion piece. "To grapple with this veritable demographic and fiscal tidal wave, it is now time for state and federal governments gradually to shift their role from being the major payer for long-term care to helping people plan and save for their own long-term care needs," Shapiro writes.

He adds, "A successful National Commission on Long-Term Care Reform has real potential to help the next president and the new Congress not only carve out a historic niche of bipartisan cooperation -- something voters clearly desire -- but also stimulate a new, vigorous debate to be carried into the 2008 presidential campaign" (Shapiro, Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/27).

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