A Victory for People with Disabilities and Seniors

Governor Tom Wolf said Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court Decision to allow his 2015 homecare executive order to proceed is a victory for seniors and people with disabilities in Pennsylvania. The decision is a victory for seniors, people with disabilities, and homecare workers. It provides choices for seniors, improves home and community-based care and attracts more qualified homecare attendants.

With Pennsylvania’s older population growing, by 2030, one in four people in the state will be age 65 and older, and half of those will need some form of daily care. To meet this need, Governor Wolf signed an executive order in January 2015 as a first step. Since the order was signed, the departments of Aging and Human Services have been successfully implementing programs to expand services for older Pennsylvanians, reduce long-term care costs and ensure seniors have choices about where to age, as well as launching an online homecare directory.

Part of this plan was the launching of Community HealthChoices (CHC) in the southwest region in January 2018. Many of you know about and are part of CHC in that region. CHC will eventually impact the lives of 420,000 Pennsylvanians, 94 percent of whom are dual eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. CHC program will be rolled out in SE Pennsylvania in 2019 and the remainder of the state in 2020.

The state’s online homecare directory, PA Link to Community Care, features service and support categories, including Advocacy, Behavioral Health, Employment, Finance, Health Care, Housing, In-Home Services, Legal, Meals, Protection from Abuse, Support Groups, and Transportation.

 

*AUCP does not own the rights to this document. Adapted a Press Release, published on August 21, 2018.