Illinois low on list in funding home care

Illinois ranks near the bottom but has made significant progress 15 years after a landmark Supreme Court ruling on giving the disabled a choice to live outside institutions.

The 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. decision says unnecessarily segregating people in mental hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions amounts to discrimination. Advocates for the mentally ill, older people and the disabled cite the ruling in arguing for home- and community-based care.

Illinois is ranked behind 38 other states and the District of Columbia in its allotment of Medicaid money to noninstitutional care. It earmarked about 42 percent of Medicaid long-term care funding to home and community services in 2012, up from about 18 percent a decade ago, but below the national average.