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January 16, 2003 Contact: James Toews (503) 945-6472, Jim Sellers (503) 945-5738 State tells seniors to prepare to lose services beginning Feb. 1 Nearly 4,200 Oregon seniors and people with disabilities are being advised to prepare for an end of Medicaid-paid services on Feb. 1. Meanwhile, the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) is gearing up for a Feb. 15 mailing telling another 4,800 people that they will lose services by April 1. The services, whose loss would be triggered by failure of Ballot Measure 28, are for in-home assistance such as housekeeping, shopping and personal care for 6,419 persons and 24-hour care in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and adult foster homes for 2,573. Those who have been notified about Feb. 1 loss of services are those in "survivability levels 15-17," who need help with bathing or dressing. The cuts coming by April 1 are for people in levels 10-14 who need help with activities such as mobility, toileting and eating. (People receiving these services are classified in 17 levels according to their ability to perform daily activities, with those in the lowest levels needing the most assistance). "These would be the largest service cuts Oregon has ever made in this population," said James Toews, Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) acting assistant director for seniors and people with disabilities. "The impact of these cuts is magnified — equivalent to a 30 percent budget cut — by having to absorb the reduction in the final months of the biennium." Toews said the department and local area agencies on aging will help search for alternative arrangements. But he said he expects many people losing long-term care will have few options and it is unclear where they will end up. If the ballot measure does not pass, on Feb. 1 DHS would also reduce payment rates to June 2001 levels for 138 nursing facilities serving Medicaid patients. Notices previously went out to other DHS clients alerting them to reductions and eliminations that would occur if the ballot measure doesn’t pass. Among them are eliminating 24-hour local crisis response for mental-health patients; eliminating the Medically Needy program for 8,000 low-income people who are aged, blind or disabled; ending prescription-drug benefits for 100,000 Oregon Health Plan clients; increasing by an average of $37 a month what low-income families pay for child care while moving from welfare to work and dropping 446 families from the child-care program; reducing by an average $30 a month payments to families caring for 5,500 foster children; reducing by an average $40 monthly payments to families who have adopted 7,700 children with special needs; eliminating mental health services for 3,730 non-Medicaid children; eliminating supported employment for 121 people with mental illness; eliminating assistance in paying Medicare premiums to 2,500 low-income seniors. |
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