AUGUSTA — Maine has been increasing the level of Medicaid funding it devotes to home-based care for the disabled since a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling gave people a choice to live outside institutions.
Data provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicates Maine was providing 50.9 percent of Medicaid long-term care money for disabled people living in home- or community-based settings in 2012. That compares to 43.8 percent in 2002.
The Supreme Court ruled that unnecessarily segregating people in mental hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions amounted to discrimination.
Nationally in 2012, states devoted an average of 49.5 percent of Medicaid long-term care funding for home settings, compared to 31.1 percent a decade earlier.
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