Waiting list
Florida Department of Elder Affairs data for September 2016 indicates 36,528 frail elderly persons were on a waiting list for the Community Care for the Elderly program. This program provides help to keep the elderly in their homes rather than in a more expensive nursing home.
Funding only supports roughly 6,000 persons at any one time, which is about 17 percent of the waiting list.
This fiscal year, the Legislature provided a 4 percent increase in funding, so meager it barely keeps pace with the growth of the waiting list.
Last fiscal year, 5,933 elderly died while on the waiting list.
Two other important programs at Elder Affairs, the Home Care for the Elderly program and the Alzheimer's Disease Initiative Program, also received grossly inadequate funding.
The Florida Alliance of Retired Americans recommends that voters choose candidates in this election who support the idea that corporations and wealthy Floridians should pay their fair share in taxes.
It is shameful that the Florida Legislature turns its back on the frail elderly.
Tens of thousands of the elderly do not get the help they need.
Richard Polangin,
Tallahassee
This story was originally published October 23, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Waiting list."