A story in today’s Houston Chronicle, titled “Florida hit for putting disabled kids in nursing homes”, ties in beautifully to the blog I wrote yesterday, “Medicaid in Deep Trouble No Matter Which Party Wins the Election”.

The Chronicle article illustrates the great lengths some money-strained governments are already going to to slash their Medicaid budgets. Medicaid is what pays for long-term care for the disabled children described and impoverished elderly.

I have good reason to fear that what this article describes is just “the tip of the iceberg” compared to what’s in store. People don’t properly prepare and the government just can’t afford to provide decent long-term care. This trend does not show signs of reversing.

If you want to ensure quality choices, dignity, and reduced family stress and strife, and you don’t want to risk wiping out your life savings doing so, you need to talk about reasonable and responsible long-term care planning, then take action and prepare, NOW!

Here are some quotes from the Houston Chronicle story:

“Florida health and disability administrators have been systematically dumping sick and disabled children – some of them babies – in nursing homes designed to care for elders, in violation of the youngsters’ civil rights, the U.S. Justice Department says.”

“In recent years, however, Florida health administrators have relied upon nursing homes to house hundreds of children who could safely live at home with their parents – often at less expense to the state, advocates claim. Assistant US Attorney General Thomas Perez said the state has cut millions from programs that support the parents of disabled youngsters, refused $40 million in federal aid that would have enabled some children to stay or return home, encouraged nursing homes to house children by increasing their per diem rate – and even repealed state rules that limited the number of kids who could be housed in adult nursing homes.”