Thursday, May 24, 2007

Family Care to Cost More than Advertised

Is anyone really surprised that Family Care is going to cost a fortune?

An expansion of long-term care programs that Gov. Jim Doyle has long touted as a money saver for taxpayers will cost the state at least $57.9 million in added annual costs by mid-2011, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

The state’s share is part of $196 million in added yearly costs by mid-2011 to expand Family Care, a Medicaid program that seeks to provide long-term care for the elderly and disabled outside of nursing homes and institutions.

The new numbers also don’t cover the full costs under the program rollout and expansion, which will not be completed until between 2013 and 2015, according to the analysis and state health officials.

[...]

Besides the added state funding, the $196 million cost of expanding Family Care and related resource centers for the elderly in the 2011 fiscal year includes an estimated $95 million in still uncommitted money from counties as well as funds from the federal government, the Fiscal Bureau found.

And let’s not forget that WisconsinCare is a bipartisan wasteful spending program.

I have mixed up WisconsinCare and Family Care.  I need more caffeine before blogging.  I edited this post to replace “WisconsinCare” with “Family Care.”  Thanks, Seth.

(3) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0702 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. WisconsinCare and Family Care aren’t the same thing.

    Posted by Seth Zlotocha on May 24, 2007 at 0909 hrs


  2. Well, yes and no.

    Without arguing whether ‘the program is wasteful’—which happens to be generic to any Gummint program—this program actually makes some sense.  I discussed it with a Milwaukee County Department on Aging employee a number of years ago, when (IIRC) it was just emerging under TThompson, or perhaps McCallum

    The general idea is that, rather than putting elderly and non-elderly disabled into nursing home or other ‘institutional’ care, keep them at HOME, with ‘as-required’ medical/personal services.

    Not all elderly need 24x7 housing, room, and board, or medical supervision.  Same-o for other disabled people.

    So why force them into 24x7 institutions?

    The program makes sense.  Can it be improved?  Probably.  Should it be dumped?  Nope.

    Posted by dad29 on May 24, 2007 at 0926 hrs


  3. OOPS!  This is why these cute little names are so bothersome.  Thanks for the catch.

    Posted by Owen on May 24, 2007 at 0926 hrs


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