Problem is seeing facilities as cash centers
The prospect of Bruce Rauner as governor scares me because he made a chunk of his ridiculous wealth exploiting people with disabilities.
A lot of attention is being paid to the accusations of abuse, neglect and wrongful death at the facilities of Trans Healthcare Inc., a nursing home chain once owned by GTCR, the private equity firm Rauner headed. But even if the residents are well cared for, they are still being exploited because they are being treated as commodities.
A company like GTCR invests in nursing homes for the same reason it invests in everything. It sees an opportunity to make a whole lot of money.
Nursing homeowners make money by keeping the beds full. This is accomplished by rigged public policies that give people with disabilities who need daily assistance from others little choice but to surrender ourselves to the custody of a nursing home.
Most people dread the idea of living in a nursing home for good reason. There are better alternatives. I'm 58 years old and I've used a wheelchair my whole life. I need physical assistance with everything from dressing to toileting and meal preparation.
Thanks to the Home Services program of the Illinois Department of Human Services, I live in my own condo and receive assistance from a crew of people of my own choosing. The state pays the wages of my workers.
The federal government requires state governments to provide nursing home placements for people who need assistance like I do, but it does not require that home- and community-based alternatives like Home Services be offered.
The existence of programs like Home Services is at the whim of the governor and state legislature.
In Illinois and all over the country, people like me who are perfectly capable of living in the community end up in nursing homes because they are offered no alternative.
Nursing homeowners work hard to insure that the funding system stays rigged.
I fear having a governor is who profited off this cynical system. He would likely see the middle-class lifestyle the Home Service program enables me to lead as extravagant and proudly squash programs like Home Services under his steamroller of faux austerity.
Rauner says he has only an economic agenda and no social agenda. You can't separate the two. State budgets reflect the social priorities and values of state government leaders.
If Rauner sees people with disabilities like me as source of cash flow for the very rich, his budgets will be structured accordingly.
Mike Ervin
Chicago