Sente-sponsored Assisted-Living Program Reform Advances

SPRINGFIELD, IL – To save the state money and protect elderly residents, state Representative Carol Sente (D-Vernon Hills) co-sponsored legislation to reform the Community Care Program (CCP), which allows elderly individuals to stay in their homes while they receive care.

“The Community Care Program is badly underfunded, resulting in more unpaid bills for the state and a needed program for the elderly being in jeopardy,” Sente said, “This measure takes common-sense steps to stabilize CCP’s finances and protect this important program for some of our most vulnerable residents.”

House Bill 2275 reforms the Community Care Program, a state-funded program that provides in-home assistance to the elderly. CCP allows elderly individuals who would otherwise have to reside in a more costly and restrictive hospital or institutional setting to remain in their homes, but the program will be underfunded by $315 million at the end of Fiscal Year 2013. HB 2275 aims to stabilize the program by making changes to Medicaid and cutting costs by taking advantage of new innovations in health care like data sharing and electronic visit verification.

“By taking full advantage of federal funds and new innovations in the health care field, we can reduce the burden that this program places on the state budget and keep more seniors in their homes, allowing for, in many cases, a better overall quality of life,” Sente said. “The changes that this bill makes to CCP should be a model for how we reform state programs, and I look forward working with my colleagues in the House on similar reform packages.”

For more information, please contact Sente’s full-time constituent service office at (847) 478-9909, or e-mail RepSente@gmail.com.