State’s FamilyCare expanding; funding getting thinner

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Wisconsin’s FamilyCare program continues to grow.

Seventeen counties are now moving thousands of low-income and disabled nursing home residents into more specialized home-like facilities.

Nine more counties will join them by the end of the year, and 18 more will get started in the first half of 2009.

Medicaid dollars are paying for it. But the state’s budget is not expanding which means the available cash gets spread thinner as the program grows.

Still, advocates say it’s a better option for thousands who’ve been on waiting lists for years for things like community group homes.

Just more than 13,000 people are enrolled. Eleven thousand are on waiting lists. The state expects 53,000 in FamilyCare by 2011, when the waiting lists are projected to be gone.

Jack Bodien of Waukesha County’s Aging and Disability Resource Center says it will be a challenge to keep serving those enrolled.

But for those who are waiting, the program will be a welcome change.

FamilyCare emphasizes cost savings where possible.

Counties must have managed-care groups administer the services.

And resource centers must spread the word. Legislative finance co-chair Kitty Rhoades of Hudson says her colleagues will review FamilyCare next year to see if it’s meeting its original goals.

Tags: wisconsin, news, familycare, funding