A bill designed to keep the elderly and adults with disabilities out of nursing homes for as long as possible has been sent back to its incredulous authors for more work.
Members of the Blue Ribbon Commission to Study Long-term Home-based and Community-based Care reacted with dismay last week when the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee tabled a bill that resulted from several months of effort.
“We spent a lot of time on this bill and all of a sudden it’s just ripped apart,” said Sen. Margaret Craven (D-Lewiston) the primary sponsor of the legislation. “It seemed so straight-forward to me.”
Craven’s bill is co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of eight lawmakers, including four members of the Legislature’s leadership team. It requires the Dept. of Health and Human Services to eliminate, by June of 2011, the waiting lists for home- and community-based care for the elderly and adults with physical disabilities.
It also proposes numerous other measures designed to improve access to, and funding for the programs, which are designed essentially to keep people living at home.
The bill calls for $1 million per year in new spending; $300,000 of it annually for developing a discharge planning process so people leaving nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities know the full range of options available to them. The rest of the funding would support long-term care services and family caregivers directly.
But members of the Health and Human Services Committee, during a public hearing last week, criticized some of the provisions in the bill.
While some asked why it excluded some segments of the homebound population, such as the mentally ill, others questioned how it adds to laws already on the books.
“I’m thinking we have to look at the whole system,” said Rep. Anne Perry (D-Calais) who co-chairs the committee. “We need to determine what our priorities are.”
Sen. Peter Mills (R-Skowhegan) said he could find little substance.
“I’ve looked all through this and there’s almost nothing here,” Mills said. “If the department wants to do this stuff, they can do it. A resolve would be an appropriate vehicle. This piece does not belong in Title 21 (of Maine laws).”
Proponents disagreed, many of them testifying that the bill would improve the lives of many Mainers while reducing costs in the long term.
“The idea is that this is an investment,” said Sen. Philip Bartlett of Gorham, another of the bills’ co-sponsors. “It’s going to save money, year after year.”
Not enough of the committee was convinced, though, and the bill’s sponsors were directed to revise it and bring it back.
Charlotte Gobeille of Lewiston, whose husband Edgar is wheelchair bound, was one of numerous people who testified about the importance of home-based services. She said she was overwhelmed until she discovered her local Seniors Plus organization.
“Before contacting Seniors Plus, I was most fearful of being able to deal with the drastic changes in our life,” she said in written testimony. “My pain was both physical, emotional, and spiritual. I felt deserted and helpless. We certainly have appreciated Seniors Plus’s services, advice and just having the knowledge that there are people out there who care.”
Sen. Joseph Brannigan (D-Portland, who co-chairs the Health and Human Services Committee, said Monday he’s confident that the authors can salvage their effort.
“They’re hopefully going to give us a clearer picture of what they wanted to happen,” he said. “It was a surprising session, but I think some good will come out of it.”
(Statehouse News Service)
