Caledonia Argus

Alternative Care clients face tough choices

Posted: 7/1/03

by Andrew Miller
Argus News Reporter

Persons receiving services through Alternative Care had less than a week to make a very tough decision.

Alternative Care is a state-funded program delivered through Houston County Public Health, providing services to lower-income senior citizens like home-delivered meals, assisted living, and the home-based emergency medical service Lifeline. Effective July 1, the state will file liens against homes of people receiving Alternative Care services, in order to recover the stateís costs.

Prior to July 1, the state would foot the costs of services not covered through the monthly premiums paid by clients. Not only is the state filing liens against clientsí property to cover costs, monthly premiums are increasing dramatically. Clients must now pay a monthly premium equal to a percentage of the cost of the services they receive, and the monthly fee could be as high as 30% of the cost of services.

About 60 people receive Alternate Care services in Houston County, and most received notice of the stateís new policy last Wednesday. They had until Monday to decide if they wished to continue receiving services. Several opted out of the program, and others contacted lawyers to ascertain if there were any reasonable alternatives.

ìThereís some very irate people out there, and some are making the hard decision of coming off service,î said Linda Grupa, director of Houston County Public Health. ìI can see the stateís need to recover their costs, but itís going to be a barrier to people getting care.î

Grupa presented the information to the Houston County Board of Commissioners on June 24, and in her address, she pointed out that the new policy has a high potential of forcing people off service, and that itís actually cheaper for the state to provide these services for free than to have clients enter nursing homes. The board reacted with concern and consternation.

Board chairman Dave Corcoran called the new policy ìanother example of the poor getting the shaft.î Commissioner Kevin Kelleher referred to the changes as ìludicrousî and ìdisrespectful,î noting that the stateís changes unfairly target a vulnerable cross-section of the population.

Alternative Care clients were not the only ones blindsided by the changes. Houston County Public Health has also been forced to do some quick thinking in light of the new policy. For instance, the state indicated that, to determine a clientís monthly premiums, the county must do an asset analysis of the client within six months. What the clientís premiums will be until the asset analysis is completed was not made clear.

But the countyís biggest concern at this point, Grupa noted, is tending to those who might no longer be able to afford services. One possible solution, she said, is to direct clients in danger of losing service to the Elderly Waiver program. Elderly Waiver is a federal-state program similiar to Alternative Care, but with different eligibility requirements.

The policy was enacted by the 2003 Legislature, and Grupa has suggested that Alternative Care clients, and any concerned citizens, should contact local legislators with feedback about the new policy.

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