Page 8 - 2018PHAVoterGuide

I am calling for a pilot program to fund and evaluate “senior hostiles” where we take seniors with limited
income who are in decent health and provide group settings with limited assistance- such as CNAs and
med techs who can assist seniors with basic HC needs. We would also have MDs and nurses on call.
These facilities would be smaller than most existing facilities and could be serviced by dedicated home
health care providers. We would aim to create a supportive environment where residents help each
other and maintain a positive mental state. I welcome any input that our professional service providers
and seniors and can provide.

Madeleine Dean (D)
Medicaid should be expanded to cover in-home personal care. Allowing people to
age at home is a proven method to, yes, save costs, but also to increase the dignity,
happiness, and quality of life for those who are receiving care. Expanding Medicaid
to cover these in-home costs will allow families and individuals to make a choice of
whether to stay in their homes based on preference, not based on fear of costs or lack
of resources and support.

Home-based care is proven to reduce costs and save money – money that can be
reinvested in the Medicaid system, allowing it to be a more sustainable system long
term. We must also work to allocate the proper resources – the funding – for these programs. Cutting
these programs is an immoral abuse of the trust the most vulnerable members of our communities have
placed in the government.

District 5 – Chester (part), Delaware, Montgomery (part),
Philadelphia (OPEN SEAT)

Mary Gay Scanlon (D)
President Trump and House Republicans have repeatedly proposed cuts to Medicaid
and Medicare to pay for the 2017 tax cut given to the wealthy and corporations.
I oppose attempts to privatize or cut funding for Medicaid and Medicare and will
fight to protect such funding for future generations. I believe that Medicare should
be expanded to include home-based care as was originally proposed in the ACA. In
addition to being the preferred alternative for many seniors, in home care is often more
cost efficient than institutional care. I favor a system change that would allow more
seniors to age in place with expanded Medicare assistance, rather than having to spend
down to impoverish themselves to be eligible for Medicaid services in a more costly
institutional setting.

Pearl Kim (R)
In a little over a decade, nearly one-third of our population will be made up of seniors.
That means our existing health care facilities will face significant challenges in
meeting the long-term care demands of seniors. In my view, home-based care needs to
be more carefully integrated into our overall health care system. It allows individuals
to stay in the comfort of their own homes, can help to significantly reduce costs
associated with care, and often yields better results for patients. I absolutely believe
that government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare need to be adapted to
ensure that they cover in-home personal care as options for treatment of patients. It’s
more affordable, many patients want to be in the comfort of their own homes, home-
based care often leads to better results, and patients are at less risk of being exposed to infections that
unfortunately can be spread at health-care facilities.
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