AARP Ohio Urges Full Funding for PASSPORT
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2003-05-05 17:14:00-04:00
By law, Ohio cannot engage in deficit spending. Thus, Ohio lawmakers are debating a series of proposed tax increases and funding cuts in order to keep the state's next two-year budget in balance. Among the proposals on the table is curbing the increase in the state's Medicaid expenses by freezing the nursing home reimbursement rate.
"That proposal only makes sense if PASSPORT doors remain open and PASSPORT is fully funded," said AARP Ohio State Director Kathy Tefft-Keller. "Simply denying services to people most in need should not be an option."
PASSPORT allows poor, frail, elderly Ohioans to receive long-term care services in their own homes at a fraction of the cost of nursing home care. Among the in-home and community-based services PASSPORT provides are personal care, home-delivered meals and nutrition consultation, adult day care, homemaker and chore assistance, emergency response systems, medical equipment, transportation, access adaptations and independent living assistance, social work and counseling sessions.
PASSPORT is the state's Medicaid waiver program, and eligibility requirements are exactly the same for PASSPORT clients and nursing home residents covered by Medicaid. In other words, all PASSPORT clients qualify to have Medicaid pay the cost of their care in nursing homes; they are equally frail and poor. However, the Medicaid cost for a PASSPORT client is $11,200 per year compared to $55,000 for a nursing home resident.
"Keeping PASSPORT open and fully funded is the right thing to do for consumers, their families and taxpayers," Tefft-Keller said. "For several years, reimbursement rates for providers of PASSPORT services have been frozen. Freezing nursing home reimbursement rates will allow the state to continue subsidizing health care for the poorest of the poor."
PASSPORT enrollment currently averages 761 new clients each month. Funding PASSPORT at a level below that enrollment would create waiting lists for in-home care and lead to higher taxpayer spending on nursing home care.
"Families, friends and neighbors continue to provide the majority of care for frail, elderly Ohioans," Tefft-Keller said. "If families cannot count on PASSPORT for help, then they have to resort to nursing homes. This is not what elderly Ohioans want, not what their families want, and certainly not the answer taxpayers seek."
AARP will be working in the months ahead to convince lawmakers that fully funding PASSPORT makes the most sense for both taxpayers and the frail, elderly Ohioans it serves. You can make a difference in this campaign when you call your legislators and let them know you want PASSPORT to continue to be a choice for poor, frail, elderly Ohioans.
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Other Ohio Resources
Maintaining Health and Human Services with Diminishing Resources
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An AARP survey of Ohio voters age 18+ finds that 89 percent support maintaining current levels of funding for human services.
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