NORWICH – Newly elected Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) recently revealed his budget for the 2007/2008 year. The budget considerably reduces the growth in Medicaid and has some people concerned about what the changes will mean for the elderly population.

Chris Foster, who works as an Ombudsman for the Community Memorial Hospital (CMH) Residential Care Facility – providing help to residents and staff members of long term care facilities to resolve resident’s concerns – and the members of the CMH Family council are worried about the effects of the proposed budget.

“The proposal reduces the State funds growth in Medicaid from 8 percent over the last five years to 1.7 percent in 2007-08,” a January 31 press release from the governor’s office states.

The Family Council, an independent group of friends and relatives of residents in adult care facilities expressed concern over the proposed budget. In a recent meeting, they addressed the CMH Residential Care Facility with concerns over how the Medicaid freeze could affect the quality of life in nursing homes. Foster explained that while the governor is pushing home care as an alternative to nursing home care, he has made no mention of how such care would be regulated. “Family Council members asked how that (home care) would be regulated, and questioned how home care could be effectively accomplished with few home services currently in place,” a March 12 press release from the CMH Residential Care Facility Family Council said.