WHEATON - Last Monday, Illinois Review interviewed State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton). Ives conveyed her concern about in-home elderly care providers and the vote on a supplemental to continue funding them. The supplemental is likely to put the state over budget. At the same time, because the state is so far behind in paying its bills, state-contracted businesses like in-home elderly care are struggling.
Illinois Review | David Hendrickson
The Department on Aging (IDoA) says they notified Community Care Program home care providers that the department’s FY13 appropriations would run out on Friday, March 15. Because the General Assembly did not appropriate enough funds to complete the FY13 program year, the pending budget shortfall was widely known.
"Throughout the process, IDoA has kept providers in the loop and has worked on ways to best manage the program under dire financial circumstances," a spokesman for the department told Illinois Review. "Although providers already knew about the budget shortfall, the department sent official notification on Thursday, March 7 explaining that if funds were exhausted IDoA would not be able to submit invoices to the Office of the Comptroller to pay for services provided.
The department said they advised providers to continue to submit bills as efforts are currently underway to secure supplemental appropriation in order to fund CCP through the remainder of FY 13.
