Letter: Boost Medicaid allowance

Reading the March 16 front page article on the paltry monthly sum ($30) many Medicaid nursing home residents receive for their personal needs allowance left me with with an overwhelming sense of disbelief, anger and disgust.

Is this how we treat the most vulnerable people in the world's richest country? It is hard enough to have to turn over all your income to the nursing home while you live out your final years on Medicaid. To strip people of all dignity is the final insult. It's a throwback to the poorhouses of the 19th century.

It is shameful that Illinois nursing home residents on Medicaid receive only a monthly $30 allowance. This allowance was last raised in 1987. Until the U.S. Congress ties such increases to Social Security, it is up to the individual states to rectify such an inequity. Illinois ought to raise the allowance to $200, which is the current maximum amount allowed. At the moment only Alaska pays this much.

Christopher Melby

Arlington Heights