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AARP, advocates ask Appropriations for 750 new home-care waiver slots to cut long waiting list
Summary
AARP Louisiana and disability advocates asked the House Appropriations Committee to add 750 Community Choices waiver slots to the FY25–26 budget, citing a 11,250-person wait list, an average seven-year delay for services and a $2.9 million state share for the request.
AARP Louisiana volunteers and disability advocates told the House Appropriations Committee they want 750 additional Community Choices waiver slots included in the FY2025–26 budget so more Louisianans can receive home- and community-based long‑term care.
Advocates said the shortage of slots forces many people into costly institutional care rather than allowing them to remain at home. "These waiver services provide a cost effective alternative to facility based care for many people who are able to remain in their homes," AARP volunteer Bobby Savoie told the committee during his testimony.
The nut graf: advocates said state policy and budgets currently favor institutional care and that expanding the waiver would allow older adults and people with disabilities to live at home with supports, a preference they said is both less expensive and aligns with what families ask for.
AARP and the Live at Home Coalition described the scope of the need. "We have 11,250 individuals who are on a wait list to receive the Community Choices waiver," Savoie said, repeating a figure cited by other witnesses. He added that people on the list "may have to wait an average of 7 years to receive these services so they can remain at home."
Asked about cost, witnesses provided a state general‑fund (SGF) figure. "It's 2,900,000.0. That's the SGF amount," a witness said when asked how much the state share would be for the 750 slots; the witness also said the request carries a roughly 2:1 federal match so the total new funding would be closer to $9,000,000.
Former Louisiana Department of Health secretary Kathy Cleaver, representing the Live at Home Coalition, answered questions about other funding sources. "We've never been able to come up with other sources of funding other than the trust funds and state general funds," she said.
Committee members asked how the waiver related to existing local services. Witnesses said the Community Choices waiver is a distinct Medicaid home‑and‑community‑based program that covers things such as bathing, dressing, home modifications, assistive devices and in‑home aide services; it is separate from Council on Aging services, which typically provide meals and limited in‑home assistance but not the full set of waiver services.
Disability Rights Louisiana and other advocates later reiterated support for more waiver slots in public testimony, noting the long wait list and saying expanded slot capacity can improve quality of life while reducing state spending on institutional care.
Ending: The committee heard the request and detailed cost figures and asked follow‑up questions, but no formal vote or appropriation decision was recorded in the hearing transcript. Advocates asked legislators to include the 750 slots — at an SGF cost of about $2.9 million — in the final FY25–26 budget.
