Home Care Funding For the Elderly

Following up on an earlier article by Eric Bradner, the Evansville Courier Press has a good editorial on a home care funding dispute.

Due to funding restraints, FSSA has sent out contracts to area agencies on aging, promising funding of only 70% of a state home health care program. For the remaining 30%, the agency is basically saying, “trust us, we’re good for it.” From the Bradner article:

For the new fiscal year that starts July 1, the Family and Social Services Administration sent contracts to those agencies May 13 indicating they will get 70 percent of that amount, or about $20 million.

The rest, state officials said, will come later in the year, as taxes are collected and placed in Indiana’s general fund.

“We do want to maintain some flexibility, but that doesn’t mean that we’re withholding funding from them,” said FSSA spokesman Marcus Barlow.

Still, the fact that 30 percent of what state lawmakers appropriated is not included in their contracts is causing the area agencies on aging some consternation.

The Evansville Courier Press suggests that there might be some distrust resulting from budget debates about funding the CHOICE program during the legislative session. According to an article from Lesley Stedman Weidenbener for the Louisville Courier Journal:

CHOICE was a key issue during budget negotiations this spring. Daniels proposed a cut in the program’s funding and his spending plan would have allowed Family and Social Services to divert all the CHOICE money into a Medicaid-funded program for home health care.

Just speaking generally, I’m always uneasy with clients who have contracts that incorporate only some of the terms of the agreement. I believe FSSA hopes to be able to fully fund the programs, but if they send you a contract that says 70%, you probably have to assume you’re only going to get 70%.