------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NewsBank, inc. - The Commercial Appeal - 1998 - Article with Citation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Headline: Governor's tone on long-term care funding deflates advocates Date: December 22, 1998 Section: Metro Page: B1 Edition: Final Dateline: NASHVILLE Length: 488 words Author: Paula Wade The Commercial Appeal\ Nashville Bureau Text: NASHVILLE - Gov. Don Sundquist said Monday he has made no commitment to fund the proposed $30 million "first step" in providing long-term care to indigent Tennesseans. Sundquist also said he worries about "creating a new entitlement that will bankrupt us" in the future. The comments came at the governor's wide-ranging year-end press conference. He indicated he will push for a small-scale pilot program of public charter schools rather than a statewide charter school effort and will support changes in tax laws that benefit Limited Liability Companies in Tennessee. He gave no hint about where he intends to spend Tennessee's portion of the national tobacco settlement, which will net the state about $170 million a year. Sundquist's long-term care comments surprised members of the Long Term Care Advisory Council, which last week helped write a draft recommendation outlining a proposed $30 million long-term care program for Medicaid-eligible Tennesseans. The effort was led by Sundquist's health commissioner, Nancy Menke, with input by Finance Commissioner John Ferguson, creating the assumption that the governor would fund the proposal. "With all the time and energy the various departments have put into the proposal, I'd hope they weren't just doing it for fun," said Doug Pace, executive director of the Tennessee Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, a member of the advisory council. "His people have worked hard on this to put together something that will start giving people some options (to nursing home care)." Sundquist referred to his administration's new cost estimates - figures advocates say are inflated - that the long-term care proposal would cost more per person than the state now spends for nursing home care. "One of the problems with long-term care is how do you control costs and how do we keep from creating a new entitlement that will bankrupt everybody?" Sundquist said. "We ought to move very slowly, very cautiously." Long-term care refers to a variety of home- and community-based services that allow frail or disabled people to stay at home rather than enter a nursing home, including chore and homemaker services, personal care such as bathing and dressing, adult day care, home-delivered meals, transportation and nursing services. The state's Medicaid program will pick up the tab for an indigent person to go to a nursing home but does not provide the array of home- and community-based services that often are cheaper than nursing home care. The proposed program, which would be financed by $10 million in state tax money and $20 million from the federal government, would have enough funding to cover an estimated 2,000 of the 239,000 Tennesseans who need long-term care assistance. To reach reporter Paula Wade, call 615-242-2018, or E-mail wade@gomemphis.com Copyright 1998 The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN Accession Number: 9811200113 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------