Regional Digest
Regional Digest
• Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Scott Jenson (R-Waukesha) has promised that lawmakers will pass a bill that would give pay raises to home care workers in the state and send it to the governor during a brief legislative floor session set for this week. "It is our intention to make sure that a final version of that bill passes both houses," Jenson told the Capital Times.
• Quincy Medical Center (Quincy, MA), blaming Medicare cuts and low rates from managed care organizations, will close its Quincy Visiting Nurse Association. The 95-year-old Quincy VNA cares for 400 South Shore patients and employs 110 home care workers. The decision to close the agency comes six months after the former city-owned Quincy Hospital became a private, nonprofit institution affiliated with Boston Medical Center. Boston VNA and the Norwell VNA have agreed to care for Quincy VNA patients, reported the (Quincy) Patriot Ledger.
• Many families caring for their mentally disabled children at home, who are used to receiving financial help from the government, are now going without it. A funding dispute between the mental retardation offices of Allegheny County and the state Department of Public Welfare has reduced the money available to help parents with some of the basic needs of the patients, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• Richard Licht, former lieutenant governor of Rhode Island, said last week that his rival, Rep. Bob Weygand (D-RI), should bear some responsibility for decreased funding for Medicare. Weygand, who is being challenged by Licht for the democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, voted in 1997 for legislation meant to slow the growth of Medicare, reported the Associated Press. The legislation was part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. "Bob didn’t stand up for the Rhode Island seniors, he simply voted with the others . . . and it’s had a devastating impact on Rhode Island," Licht told the AP. But Weygand argues the vote saved the Medicare system from possible bankruptcy. Weygand told the AP he and others are already working to restore the funding. Weygand is among several sponsors of legislation that would eliminate the additional 15% cut next year, the AP reported. But Licht said Weygand is not doing enough.
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