Idaho Might Expand Long-Term Care Options

Idaho residents who depend on Medicaid would have an expanded set of options for long-term care under a plan to reform the state’s $1 million-a-day Medicaid health coverage program.

The proposal to provide more long-term care options would allow certain recipients to stay in their own homes when possible, and in the least restrictive, more cost-efficient setting when they cannot stay at home.

It is one of several recommendations from Gov. Phil Batt’s Medicaid Reform Advisory Council, which was formed in April to study ways to improve the program. A public hearing is planned later this month.

“We have developed a set of 10 principles to guide Medicaid reform - 10 principles that ensure our Medicaid program is used appropriately and cost-effectively,” said Roy Raymond, chairman of the council. “The program we envision covers reasonable medical services with benefit limits.”

About 83,000 people in Idaho receive Medicaid benefits. The program provides health coverage for impoverished pregnant women, young children, the blind, disabled and elderly. The number of Idaho recipients and the costs of their care have more than doubled since 1990.

Nearly a third of all Medicaid benefits are paid to long-term care providers, such as nursing homes.

At a public hearing in June, speakers urged the council to recommend changes in requirements they said push recipients into nursing homes.

“Community-based services are, on the average, far less expensive,” said Jim Baugh of the Consortium for Idahoans with Disabilities. “They give people more opportunities to participate in their communities, preserve family values and promote human dignity.”

The speakers also urged the panel not to cut benefits.