Friday, January 30, 2009

 

Will the Unified Long Term Care Budget become a reality?

“We will also provide more choices to Ohioans in need of long term care…. With a unified long-term care budget, we begin to balance services and funding, allowing our elderly and disabled Ohioans more choices.”

With these words, Governor Strickland hinted in his State of the State address that the Unified Long Term Care Budget (ULTCB) will have some level of funding in his budget proposal (due to be introduced on Monday).

The ULTCB was created as part of the SFY 2008/2009 budget and it consolidates budgeting and policymaking for long-term care into a single authority maximizing the state’s flexibility in meeting consumer’s needs. The ULTCB Workgroup decided to take an inclusive approach to their recommendations, which include all Ohioans in need of long term care, regardless of age or payer source. In the Workgroup's final report, they outlined a five year implementation plan that will begin in the coming biennium and extend through the next two. Since FY2010 will be the first year of funding, hopefully Strickland’s comments during his speech signal that he is going ahead with the recommendations, even with the budget difficulties the state is facing.


Want to learn more about the ULTCB? Two sessions at the upcoming Human Services Institute will focus on this topic. Our speakers will be Dr. Robert Applebaum of SCRIPPS (who was a member of the ULTCB Workgroup) and Director of Aging Barbara Riley. The Institute is March 13 and registration is on our website.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?