State funding for the Community Care Program has run out of money for the fiscal year. The program’s fund home care assistance for more than 80,000 seniors across the state.
Community Care Program officials say without emergency funding, the state’s home care system could collapse. The association says its members can survive 30 days without state funding. A coalition of seniors and home care workers are calling on state lawmakers to pass a supplemental budget to sustain the program through July 1st. State Senator Dave Koehler says he supports the measure.
“Whether it’s meals-on-wheels, whether it’s in-home care, because a lot of seniors depend on these kinds of programs to be able to stay in their homes. The only other alternative is to be placed in nursing homes. And that becomes more expensive, and even more costly to the state,” says Koehler.
The Community Care Program faces a deficit of more than $300 million for this year and last. The supplemental budget is in the early part of the legislative process.