AARP Massachusetts

“Home Care First” was the chant heard in the halls of the Massachusetts State House as a coalition of advocacy groups stood in solidarity urging state lawmakers to restore funding to services that keep elderly citizens at home. Massachusetts faces an estimated $1.5 billion deficit in the 2016 fiscal year’s budget. Since the budget cannot be officially approved with this deficit, some painful cuts necessitate the balancing of the budget. Advocacy groups for older Americans such as Mass Senior Action Group, AARP Massachusetts, Mystic Valley Elder Services and Mass Home Care made it clear that significant cost savings had already been made by providing home-based care services to elder citizens as opposed to putting them in extremely expensive nursing facilities. Community care programs like home care have reduced nursing facility costs by $853 million in 2015 compared to costs in 2000 – all due to 34 percent reduction in the number of patient days in institutions. There are an estimated 10,000 empty nursing facility beds today because of community alternatives. The per capita use of nursing […]