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Opinion | Time to save MI Choice
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The Bridge Michigan audience may not be familiar with a Medicaid program called MI Choice.
It is a lifeline for older adults in our state, enabling people to age in their own home rather than in a nursing facility. Serving more than 16,000 Michiganders annually, MI Choice delivers in-home services which allow people to age in place and is one-third of the cost of a nursing home stay.
Bridge has recently written about the important issues affecting an aging population. Anyone who has helped care for an older adult loved one, friend, or neighbor understands the value of people having a choice to age at home as long as possible. We call your readers’ attention to the importance of MI Choice — a cornerstone of Michigan’s long-term care network. MI Choice is essential to older adults and to our state Medicaid program.
MI Choice services include personal care, home delivered meals, transportation, home modification, medical equipment, care coordination, adult day, private duty nursing, health care, counseling and more. To qualify for MI Choice, a person must require a level of care normally provided in a nursing home and be eligible for Medicaid.
But access to this impactful program has become tougher because Medicaid reimbursement rates have not kept up with inflation. When the state minimum wage was increased back in February, MI Choice rates were not adjusted to reflect the rising costs of in-home care. Because the rates have not been adjusted, MI Choice managers are increasingly challenged to continue offering this valuable and cost-effective service.
Without full funding of MI Choice, there will be fewer providers, care rationing, service delays, compliance challenges, staff turnover, growing waiting lists and increasing hospital and nursing home admissions at a cost three times more than MI Choice. MI Choice not only helps older adults stay at home but also helps our state offer long-term supports that ultimately save state dollars.
Overwhelmingly, older adults and people with disabilities prefer to live at home. The MI Choice program makes this happen in every Michigan county and community. As our state stares down a looming long-term care crisis, it should be the highest priority to support MI Choice as policymakers craft the state budget. MI Choice is essential to older adults aging in place and to the Medicaid program. It should be supported as such.
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