Oklahoma baby boomers may bust budget
Recession hits senior citizens and their health care support system in the wallet

BY DAVID CHRISTOPHER Comments 3
Published: January 9, 2009

Hundreds of concerned residents, legislators and community leaders pledged Thursday to advocate for Oklahoma’s rapidly growing population of seniors as the economic downturn threatens key services on which many Oklahomans rely.

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AT A GLANCE

DHS cost dilemma

More Oklahomans than ever are choosing not to go into nursing homes, opting instead for care services that allow them to stay in their homes.

In 2008 the number of people in the ADvantage program, which provides care services that allow people over 65 and those with disabilities to live in their homes, was higher than the number of Medicaid patients in nursing homes for the first time. Those in the ADvantage program numbered 23,585, compared with 21,606 in nursing homes.

"Every study out there shows that people want to stay at home rather than go to a nursing home.” said Tom Dunning, a program administrator at the state Department of Human Services Aging Services Division.

Dunning said the ADvantage program is cost effective — $28 per person per day compared with a cost of $100 per person per day for nursing home care.

The dilemma for the DHS is that federal law obliges them to provide Medicaid nursing home care for everyone who qualifies, but the ADvantage program is optional and so may have to absorb some of next year’s anticipated budget cuts.

Dunning said budget cuts to ADvantage may mean a waiting list.

If budget cuts at ADvantage result in a waiting list, that list could be prioritized to serve the most needy first, said Claire Dowers-Nichols, programs supervisor of the DHS Aging Services Division.

"The service providers we’re working with have seen hard times before,” she said. "And they’re very good at stretching a dollar.”

Oklahoma’s baby boomers will likely swell the state’s population of over-60s to 1 million in the next two years, up from 661,098 in 2007, raising concerns that the state Department of Human Services won’t be able to cope with the burden.

Deteriorating economic conditions mean more people than ever will qualify for Medicaid at a time when state revenues are falling, officials said.

Seeking solutions

At the Stand Up For Seniors advocacy forum, Lance Robertson, director of DHS’s Aging Services Division, asked, "How do we mitigate the devastating effect that budget reductions of any magnitude will have on our state’s vulnerable aging population?”

Five empty chairs on the stage represented seniors whose testimonies, read by volunteers, illustrated how their health, care and mental health needs have been met by the DHS.

A testimonial from a retired woman, referred to only by her first name, Sophie, told of how her sister’s death pushed her into depression, isolation, alcoholism and prescription drug abuse.

"I was just a lonely old woman with nothing to look forward to,” she said.

Sophie said she wouldn’t answer the door to anybody but the taxi driver who delivered peanut butter, crackers and gin to her home.

Thanks to intervention from Adult Protective Services she was able to replace the cocktail of prescription drugs she had been taking with one medication, and within a month she had recovered enough to drive again for the first time in two years.

"These are people who don’t have assets and don’t have wealth,” said DHS Director Howard Hendrick. "And they’re coming through the door for services.”

Need already high

Hendrick said legislators have a difficult task ahead deciding how to allocate money when DHS already has a hole in its budget for 2010.

He said the $191 million ADvantage program is $10 million in the red.

"I don’t know how this is going to work out,” Hendrick said.

"We can’t just pour more water in the soup every time these problems come up.”

Speakers agreed there is no easy solution.

"We’re going to all have to share the responsibility of the people whose stories we heard today,” Hendrick said.

Event organizer Mary Brinkley said the inaugural forum got the ball rolling.

"The response was overwhelming,” she said. "Everyone is so committed to fighting for these services, and that’s what we’re going to do.”