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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2009 > November > 24 > Entry
Rep. Lehner bill would help some seniors stay out of nursing homes
Rep. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, on Tuesday, Nov. 24, helped launch a bipartisan effort to help some Ohioans receive care at home instead of in nursing homes.
“It recognizes their desire to be in their homes,” Lehner said after a Statehouse press conference.
The proposed legislation is narrowly focused and would affect possibly “hundreds” not thousands of Ohioans, said Sen. John Carey, R-Wellston.
It would allow Ohioans who qualify for Medicaid - the federal-state government health insurance program - and who are at imminent risk of being admitted to nursing homes to instead receive services at home, Carey and Lehner said.
Lehner said an example might be a 90-year-old man in the hospital with a broken hip who was ready to be released but had no one at home capable of caring for him. He would qualify for home care under the companion bills to be introduced in the House and Senate, she said.
The proposals would expand an existing program that allows Ohioans living in nursing homes immediate access to home and community care, she said. Now the 90-year-old man in her example would first have to be admitted to a nursing home before becoming eligible to be released to get home care, she said.
The plan would save money, Lehner and Carey said. It costs about $20,000 a year to care for someone at home, compared to $60,000 in a nursing home, they said.
Carey estimated that the plan could save as much as $60 million annually.
Lehner and Carey appeared at the press conference with Sen. Dale Miller, D-Cleveland.
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Comments
By Trish
November 24, 2009 3:06 PM | Link to this
I hope this passes - way more practical in a lot of ways than just slapping people into long-term care facilities.
By Linda
November 24, 2009 1:14 PM | Link to this
With this type of injury, the client is likely to pass before all the LTC facility paperwork on him is processed. Medicare somehow can’t steal ppl’s homes anymore. This is good news.