PENNSYLVANIA Share of tobacco money slated to help elderly
Pennsylvania is using 13 percent of the settlement to assist in-home care.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
It's going to be easier for older Pennsylvanians to get care they need in their homes next year because of money from the state's billion-dollar tobacco settlement.
Area agencies on aging in Mercer and Lawrence counties received guidelines this week for a "bridge" program that will enable elderly people with low incomes but assets of up to $40,000 get needed in-home care.
The state will also expand on other elderly-care programs by providing more money to local area agencies on aging for evaluating older people and funding new technology to help in their care.
"We like to say it's geared toward giving people choices about how and where they receive their long-term care. In the past when your financial level was at a certain level, there were times when you didn't have much choice and went to a nursing home," said Lori Gerhard, deputy secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Aging in Harrisburg.
Allotment: Next year, the state is dedicating about 13 percent, or $29,252,000, of the money it is receiving from private tobacco makers to provide more in-home care for senior citizens, Gerhard said.
That money is part of the nearly $11 billion settlement tobacco companies will pay Pennsylvania over the next 25 years to end a lawsuit a coalition of states filed to recoup public money spent over the years to treat smoking-related illnesses. Each state involved is spending its tobacco settlement money on different programs.
Bridging gap: The largest portion of the money going to the Pennsylvania Department of Aging will be used to bridge the gap some senior citizens face when their income qualifies for welfare programs but they have too many assets, such as money in a savings account or stocks and bonds.
The Pennsylvania Department of Aging Waiver program provides in-home care for senior citizens who would normally go to a nursing home. It's paid for by a mix of federal and state money and is free to the senior citizen who has an income of less than $1,590 per month. However, those eligible can have only $2,000 in assets.
Gerhard said the new program will extend those asset guidelines to $40,000. The person will then be required to pay for 50 percent of their in-home care until they spend enough of their assets to reach that $2,000 guideline set by the original PDA Waiver program. The tobacco settlement money will pay for the other half of their care.
"We think this is very exciting. It's adding another piece to the array of services that we can provide. It will enable us to serve another whole section of the population that was falling through the cracks before," said Roberta Taylor, administrator for Challenges, Options on Aging, which is Lawrence County's agency on aging.
Ann Marie Spiardi, executive director of the Mercer County Agency on Aging, said the new programs covered by this funding should reduce waiting lists they have for in-home services. Mercer County has about 130 people now waiting for in-home services, she said.
Technology: In addition to the PDA Waiver program, tobacco settlement money will pay for an adaptive technology program that will be new to Pennsylvania's 52 area agencies on aging, Gerhard said.
About $1 million will be dedicated to buying machinery that will make it easier for people to stay in their homes, she said.
The machinery could be anything from a chair lift that enables elderly people to move up and down steps to a computer monitor that allows a nurse to take someone's blood pressure and observe how wounds are healing from a distant site, she said.
"Each area agency on aging will determine how to use this adaptive technology. It will be used to help an elderly person remain functionally independent in their own home," she said.
Assessment: An additional $1.5 million will be distributed sometime in the summer to help area agencies on aging assess the needs of the elderly. Gerhard said that could translate into more staff depending individual agencies' needs.
Officials of the Mercer and Lawrence county aging offices say they expect to start work on these programs sometime in January.