Louisiana Moves Forward With Community-Based Programs for Elderly, People With Disabilities, Despite Federal Rejection of Grant Requests

Although the federal government last month rejected Louisiana's request for $5.6 million in grant funding, the Department of Health and Hospitals will move ahead with new community-based services for the elderly and people with disabilities this year, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports. According to DHH head David Hood, the department has earmarked $600,000, collected from a combination of "possible underspending in some areas" of the current DHH budget and a "slight surplus" in others, for the services. Noting that no DHH services would be adversely affected by diverting the funds to community-based services, Hood said that the money will facilitate "essential state planning" to determine community service needs and how to deliver them. Saying that $600,000 would "only be a start," Hood said, "I believe this money will be well spent because it is essential that we start making progress on finding alternatives to institutional care for our seniors and people with disabilities." A federal mandate, coupled with the U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead v. L. C. decision in 1999, requires states to "offer a range of services to the elderly and people with all kinds of physical, mental and other disabilities." According to the Advocate, activists for Louisiana's elderly and people with disabilities have filed several lawsuits in an attempt to "push" the state into compliance with the Olmstead decision. Currently, Louisiana spends $800 million each year on nursing home services, and less than $8 million for community services for the elderly (Shuler, Baton Rouge Advocate, 10/23). For further information on state health policy in Louisiana, visit State Health Facts Online.