Indiana Law Calls For State Funded Home-Health Care
Despite a law in the state of Indiana that would provide state funding for health-care services, Indiana taxpayers are still paying $300 million per year toward nursing home costs. The law would allow elderly residents to get medical services while living in their homes. The report on the Chicago Tribune website states that roughly 18% of Indiana’s nursing homes remain empty and roughly 6,000 people wait on a list for services.
The report states that if a fraction of the 28,000 elderly and disabled residents of Indiana were transferred to home-health care, the state could save between $4.6 and 13.6 million per year. However, funds still continue to be used for nursing home costs and funding has not increased for the two primary home-care programs available in the state.
In this case, there are a number of ways to approach the issue of tax dollars being used one way or another. If taxpayer dollars directed toward nursing home costs are reduced and funding increases for home-health programs, the state of Indiana could subsequently see a dramatic decrease in the number of elder abuse cases and lawsuits in nursing homes. The elderly deserve proper, and prompt medical care regardless of the source. Although elder abuse may not necessarily be completely removed, increasing funding and transferring elders to home-health care could assist in protecting elders and save them money at the same time.
