Walker Expected To Announce Expansion Of In-Home ‘Family Care’ Program

Update – 3:06 p.m.: Gov. Scott Walker has officially announced the Family Care program expansion. Read more here.

Gov. Scott Walker is expected to announce an expansion of Wisconsin’s Family Care program at a stop in Green Bay later Monday.

Family Care helps people who are elderly or disabled receive care in their homes instead of being placed in a nursing home. That can include help with meals, bathing, getting out of the house or finding a job.

Asked recently about what his plans were on Family Care, Walker indicated he had the power to expand the program without the Legislature’s approval.

“We’ve been looking at that. We think, as we mentioned, through the legislative process working with some lawmakers, that’s something we thought we could do on an administrative basis and not have to do through specific legislation,” Walker said. “There’s just a few little areas, predominantly in northeastern Wisconsin that want it.”

Seven counties in northeast Wisconsin would like to add Family Care, including Brown County, where Walker is scheduled to speak Monday.

Lisa Pugh is the executive director of Disability Rights Wisconsin, one of the groups invited to join Walker. She says it’s a matter of fairness.

“There’s no reason why people should have to think about moving across the county line to receive the support that their loved one needs or that their aging parent needs. And that’s really what’s been happening in that northeast region of the state,” Pugh said. “There really were no supports available to people and families in crisis. So if that’s the announcement we hear on Monday, this is going to be a really great day.”

Right now 57 Wisconsin counties have Family Care, while 15 do not. Its budget has grown to more than a billion dollars, paid for by a mix of state and federal Medicaid funding.