In keeping with the national trend toward redirecting public funds toward homecare as a preferable alternative to nursing homes, New York governor, Eliot Spitzer, in an early January address proposed shifting away from expensive institutional nursing homes toward community and home based alternatives. As confirmed by the acting director of a local office of aging, this is a proposal which has been talked about for years. It has been estimated that both families and the government can potentially save half of the money that a nursing home would cost and keep seniors at home. With a prominent national figure such as Eliot Spitzer pushing this important issue, it may indeed gain traction in the State of New York – if not elsewhere in the country.
