Ohio’s Medicaid program covered only a portion of the program’s assisted living bills, leaving frail seniors Betty Hilleger and Geraldine Saunders with unexpected sky-high expenses. And they were not alone. Thousands of Ohio’s seniors faced the same coverage gap. They applied for coverage, but faced delays and unreasonable bills even after they were supposed to be covered. Justice in Aging joined with the Cincinnati firm Beckman Weil Shepardson to represent Hilleger and Saunders in a class action suit against the state to eliminate this coverage gap.
Last week, when 15 firefighter-paramedics arrived at a nursing home in Lake Zurich, Illinois, they were not responding to a crisis. Their purpose was purely educational, as the firefighters embarked on a training day to learn about Alzheimer’s disease. “There’s a large handful of people that have dementia in this area, and we have to deal with them all the time, and care for them, and it’s important that we know how to do it properly,” Fire Department training chief, Mickey Wenzel reported to the local news.
Where do you want to live as you grow old and —very likely, at some point — lose the ability to take care of yourself? Probably, you want to remain at home, with necessary assistance along with ongoing contact with friends and family. Alternatively, you probably do not want to move into a nursing home.
