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Senior care providers head to Lansing voicing concerns over Medicaid cuts

Senior citizens
Candida Performa via Wikimedia | CC BY 2.0
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In-home senior service workers and advocates will meet with state lawmakers discussing potential Medicaid cuts and their impacts on seniors receiving care

In-home senior care maintains independence and quality of life.

“It offers an alternative to provide those types of supports that you might get in a nursing home but instead get them inside of your home.”

Sarah Milanowski is Enrollment and Marketing Manager for Muskegon- and Holland-based LifeCircles PACE, an in-home care service for seniors. Next week she, along with employees and advocates of PACE programs like LifeCircles, head to Lansing to discuss with lawmakers their concerns Medicaid cuts found within President Donald Trump’s spending bill could have on in-home care services.

“The State of Michigan looks at what the average monthly cost of a nursing home is for Michiganders and this year they’re estimating that it’s over $11,000 per month.”

Milanowski says PACE in-home care programs offer an economical and preferred alternative to nursing home care, but cuts to Medicaid could endanger those programs.

“So, we want our new lawmakers – we want to remind our old lawmakers – that PACE programs actually save taxpayers a significant amount of money. It costs 12% less to have someone in a PACE program as opposed to having someone in a traditional nursing home.”

President Trump’s bill has passed the House of Representatives and is currently in the Senate for consideration.

Dave joined WGVU Public Media in November of 2023 after eighteen years as a Michigan Association of Broadcasters Emmy-nominated photojournalist and editor at Grand Rapids' WOOD TV8 and three years at WEYI TV25 in Flint, Michigan. As a General Assignment Reporter, Dave covers daily news and community events all over West Michigan.
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