Earlier this year, the state Department of Public Welfare consolidated financial service providers through its Long-Term Living program that issues paychecks to the attendants of those in need of long-term care.
The services are funded with state and federal money through Medicaid. There's nothing sneaky or illegal about them. In most cases, those services are being provided to people who are totally dependent on their caregivers due to a lack of mobility or other serious health issues.
So failure to provide the financial aid is not an option.
Except that's what has been happening since the program switched one payroll provider from Community Resources for Independence to Christian Financial Management of Troy Hill. Some 1,700 personal care attendants experienced payroll delays.
These attendants help people in need with cooking, getting dressed, shopping, transportation and personal hygiene. While they tend to be the type of people who value the care over their own compensation, they can't be expected to go without pay for two months, which is what has been happening.
Apparently, according to the Office of Long-Term Living, Christian Financial Management was not provided adequate paperwork to expediently process payments for many of the employee/attendants being transferred to them.
While that's an acceptable explanation, the problem should not have taken two months to rectify.
The Office of Long-Term Living needs to make solving this problem a top priority.
These people with legitimate needs and their attendants deserve better.
