Lawmakers in the House recognized that home care saves the state millions in Medicaid dollars every year, by keeping people out of costly nursing homes, as shown in a recent study by the Anderson Economic Group.

Thats why we need to protect the Home Help program. Not only does it cost the state four times as much to fund nursing home care, but home care also allows people to retain their independence and dignity in the comfort of their own homes. 

With the prospect of hundreds of thousands of Baby Boomers moving into our long-term care system, this is a time when we need to increase funding of programs like Home Help to ensure all Michiganders can have access to affordable, quality care when they need it.

Georgia Richardson just wants to do some good.

But a state Senate bill passed last week aimed at eliminating some of Michigan's $942 million budget deficit may soon lower her wages, and her incentives, for doing so.

The Oak Park resident, who three days per week provides assistance as a home care worker to a Detroit senior citizen, said the Republican-backed proposal could break her personal budget - and her heart.

"Could I afford to keep doing this? Probably not," Richardson, 59, said in a quivering voice while seated next to Mildred Lewis, the 71-year-old woman for whom she works. "I came into this just wanting to help. I didn't expect to get this close to someone."

The most disturbing of the proposed cuts would include eliminating the $0.50 per hour wage increase for Home Help workers enacted last year, a move that would in fact end up costing the state millions of dollars.

The Anderson Economic Group (AEG) published a report last year that found that the wage increase to Home Help workers would save the state over $276 million in Medicaid spending by keeping people in their own homes and avoiding costly nursing homes.

The Senate bill would also cut the number of hours of home care services provided to seniors and people with disabilities. By cutting these basic services, it will make it that much harder for our neighbors and loved ones to stay in their own homes when they need long term care

In a recent study by the Anderson Economic Group (AEG), it was found that one way to alleviate the growing costs of Medicaid, is to invest in home care. By looking at data from the Department of Community Health, they found it costs the state nearly four times as much to maintain a person in a nursing home as opposed to caring for them in the comfort of their own home.

See the summary

Read the full HFA report

Read the full AEG report

Not that you can really put a price tag on it, but national organizations estimate that family caregivers in Michigan provide about $10.5 billion worth of services each year to relatives who are chronically ill, disabled or elderly.