MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) – The Senate’s finance chairwoman says the state is not trying to cut off access to long-term care.
Republican Alberta Darling says the governor’s budget measures are about making the state’s programs more cost efficient.
The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee was hearing from a large crowd Friday in Milwaukee, in the second of four official public hearings on the Walker budget.
Among other things, it would eliminate the “IRIS” program, in which 11,000 low-income elderly and disabled residents create plans to live independently.
Tiffany Payne of Milwaukee said it would cost the state a lot more to send her to a nursing home, than the $40 a day it pays to live in her own home. She asked that IRIS and the state’s Family Care program keep going without changes.
Barbara Becker of Disability Rights Wisconsin said around 50,000 state residents need lawmakers to, in her words, “preserve the safety net.”
Darling made her remarks before the all day hearing began. It’s expected to run at least until 5 p.m. Friday at Milwaukee’s Alverno College.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
