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Join the cause

The Alzheimer’s Association--South Central Wisconsin Chapter invites you to become an Alzheimer advocate. Join us and speak up for the needs and rights of people with Alzheimer’s disease and their families.

Add your voice to ours — become an advocate today.

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What is an advocate?

Alzheimer advocates play an important role in improving the quality of care and quality of life for people with Alzheimer’s disease and their families by working to improve dementia care and services; improve access to community-based care; improve quality care in residential settings; and expand funding for research and public programs serving people with dementia.

As an advocate, you will:

• Receive regular updates about current legislative and public policy issues.
• Stay on top of policy and legislative issues through alerts and updates.
• Make calls or write to legislators to forward public policy priorities to improve quality of life for those living with Alzheimer’s.

Wisconsin advocacy

2007 State Budget Highlights

AFCSP (Alzheimer’s Family Caregiver Support Program); The Governor has made changes to theFamily Care transfer mechanism in the statutes to eliminate transfer of AFCSP funding to Family Care in future Family Care Counties.

Alzheimer's Research at U.W. Madison; The $2.5 million included in the last budget for research at the U.W. Madison as one time funding has been included as a line item in the U.W. budget.

Alzheimer's Research at Medical College; The budget includes $2.5 million to the Medical College of  Wisconsin to support its translational research facility that will build on its efforts in the research of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurological diseases.

Senior Care; The Governor included $38 million in fiscal year 2008 and $77 million in fiscal year 2009 to fund Senior Care and maintain current program eligibility levels, deductibles, co-payments and enrollment fees.

Volunteer Ombudsman Program; Governor Doyle provided four additional positions to the Board on Aging and Long Term Care (BOALTC) for the volunteer ombudsman program and authority was given to the BOALTC to oversee RCACs but additional positions were not allocated for RCAC oversight.

MA Rate Increases; Increase reimbursement rates for non-institutional providers participating in the Medicaid program by one percent in fiscal year 2007-08 and an additional two percent in fiscal year 2008-09. (This includes home care.)

Medicaid Expansion for Childless Adults; The Governor proposes expanding Medicaid (MA) to adults without children who are at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.

Medicaid Funding Mechanism 1; Transfer $175 million from the injured patients and families compensation fund in order to maintain the Medicaid program while major reforms of the program are pursued, increase provider reimbursement rates and to implement E-Health initiatives.

Medicaid Funding Mechanism 2; The Governor proposes to increase the cigarette tax by $1.25 to $2.02 per pack. $546 million in additional revenue is expected to be generated over the biennium through this provision.

Family Care Expansion; Improve services to Wisconsin seniors and disabled by expanding the Family Care program statewide and providing additional long-term care ombudsman services. The Governor recommends an increase of $22.4 million in the first year of the budget and $60.8 million in the second year to expand the Family Care program. The budget targets expansion of Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs) to 75% of the state and Care Management Organizations (CMOs) to 62% of the state by the end of the biennium (June 30, 2009). The budget recommends a 3% increase each year for CMOs and a 4% a year increase for PACE/Partnership programs. Two Family Care Ombudsman positions are also included in the Governor’s proposed budget.

Federal advocacy

• Federal update
• National priorities