“California to eliminate Medicaid waitlists through assisted living waiver’”

 

“California to eliminate Medicaid waitlists through assisted living waiver,” by Kimberly Bonvissuto, McKnight’s Senior Living 

 

Quote:

“The assisted living waiver offers Medi-Cal eligible beneficiaries the choice of residing in an assisted living setting as an alternative to long-term placement in a nursing facility. The goal of the waiver is to transition eligible older adults and individuals with disabilities from a nursing facility to a community home-like setting in residential care facilities, adult residential care facilities or public subsidized housing.”

 

LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:

665,000 people languish on waiting lists for Medicaid home and community-based care across the country. So, California, which is in the process of eliminating its asset limit for Medicaid eligibility, has a great idea. Reduce its 6,559 waiting list, about 10% of the national total, by putting people in assisted living instead of nursing homes. But as I explained in “The Sirens’ Call, The Primrose Path, and Assisted Living,” Assisted Living, April 2004, that only ruins assisted living in the same way Medicaid ruined nursing homes. California’s efforts to make Medicaid long-term care easier to get and more attractive are another example of Great Moments in Unintended LTC Consequences. What a great idea; with the best of intentions; what could possibly go wrong? Plenty.