Ruling lets disabled leave Cook County nursing homes
Thousands of Medicaid-eligible disabled people now forced to live in Cook County nursing homes will soon have the option to move out and receive in-home care.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow approved a settlement Tuesday for a class-action discrimination lawsuit filed against the state of Illinois by Chicago-based Access Living, on behalf of about 20,000 Cook County nursing home residents with physical disabilities or mental illness.
The lawsuit said thousands of people were reluctantly being “warehoused” in state-run institutions because they could not afford to live in their communities or get the support services they needed.
The case centered on Lenil Colbert, a Chicago man who was partially paralyzed after suffering a stroke at age 32. Even though he doesn’t require round-the-clock care, the state required him to move into a state-run nursing home, where he was forced to have a roommate, wake up and eat on a schedule, and have visitation privileges he likened to jail visits.
Under the terms of the agreement, people like Colbert will have a choice of where they want to live. If they choose not to live in a state-run nursing home, the state will provide a stipend for housing and related assistance to at least 1,100 Cook County nursing home residents with disabilities during the first two and a half years.
After that, the state will provide $4,000 per person in housing and related assistance to help clients move into the community. That cost is less than — or will not exceed — the amount the state spends now for their nursing home costs, said Steve Libowsky, an attorney from SNR Denton who represented Access Living pro bono.
The next step is for the lawyers involved to hammer out an implementation plan, which is expected to take a few months. When the plan’s in place, authorities can begin transitioning people out of nursing homes, Libowsky said.
“The hope is we can get it done in the first quarter of next year,” Libowsky said Tuesday. “We need to get in touch with all of the people at some point, to have their desires known. We need to figure out if it will be random, or by nursing home, or by some other method ... so we can give people a fair and reasonable chance to be in the first 1,100.”
Gov. Pat Quinn praised the settlement agreement when it was reached in August, saying it will save the state money, provide a better quality of life for people, and adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
He echoed those sentiments Tuesday, saying it will expand the choices of older adults and persons with disabilities who want to live in their own communities.
“Illinois is well on its way to assuring older adults and people with disabilities care and treatment in the most community-integrated settings appropriate for their conditions,” Quinn said in a statement. “We are moving in the right direction on community and home-based care, and I look forward to continuing this effort.”