The Illinois Community Care Program provides in-home services to over 100,000 senior citizens, allowing them to live independently and avoid more expensive nursing home care. Services include home health aides, adult day care, and emergency response devices. On average, it costs $868 per month per senior to provide these in-home services, compared to $2,791 per month for nursing home care through Medicaid. However, Governor Rauner now plans to exclude almost 40% of current clients from the program by increasing eligibility requirements, which could force many seniors into nursing homes.

1. Top 5 Things
you should know about
Illinois’ Community Care Program
for seniors
"...helping older people live independently"

2. More than 100,000 Illinois senior
citizens still live in their own homes
with the assistance
of home health aides.
Without that help they would be forced
to move to assisted living or nursing
homes.

3. Why does that matter and why
does the State of Illinois
benefit from funding these
programs?

4. Illinois’ Community Care
Program, begun in 1979, provides
in-home and community-based
help to senior citizens, allowing
104,491 older Illinoisans who
otherwise might need nursing
home care to stay in their own
homes and neighborhoods.

5. The program provides a variety of
services: adult day care, aides
who visit and help with cleaning
and cooking, emergency response
devices so seniors can easily call
for help if they fall or have any
type of medical crisis, trained
assistance for people in early
stages of Alzheimer’s and more.

6. Currently, any Illinois resident
age 60 or older with a
documented need for services
can receive help through the
Community Care Program,
although seniors with higher
income levels must contribute
to the cost of their care.

7. On average, Community Care
Program services needed to keep a
senior citizen in his or her home
cost $868 per month.
The alternative, paying for nursing
home care for a Medicaid-eligible
client, costs the state
$2,791 per month.

8. Gov. Rauner is taking action to
exclude almost 40 percent of
current clients: senior citizens
who depend on in-home
assistance to live
independently and avoid
expensive nursing home care.

9. “I’m too crippled to work, and all I need
is a little help. Don’t we, as citizens
who have paid taxes all of our lives,
deserve to be treated better?
Apparently, our governor thinks
we are just a burden.”
- Low-income senior Ray Miller,
helped by Community Care

10. IllinoisSenateDemocrats.com
© Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus 2015
Learn more:
Illinois Community Care Program
Rauner’s cuts would lead to more seniors
in nursing homes (VIDEO)