An Act to amend 46.286 (1) (a) (intro.) of the statutes; Relating to: eligibility for Family Care for individuals who are deaf-blind. (FE)
Summary
SB272 would amend Wisconsin’s Family Care statute to make people who are deaf-blind expressly functionally eligible for the program. Family Care is a community-based long-term care program for adults who need assistance because of disability or frailty, and current law requires applicants to meet specified functional and financial criteria. This bill adds deaf-blindness, as defined by federal law, as a standalone basis for functional eligibility.
In practical terms, the bill would ensure that individuals who are deaf-blind do not have to fit into other disability or frailty categories to qualify for Family Care services. The measure is limited in scope: it does not change the program’s financial eligibility rules or the overall structure of Family Care, but it does expand access to long-term care supports for a specific population with significant communication and daily living needs.
Impact
The bill would amend s. 46.286 (1) (a) (intro.) of the Wisconsin statutes governing Family Care eligibility. By adding deaf-blindness as an express functional eligibility category, it would broaden the pool of people who may receive community-based long-term care services under Family Care, while leaving the program’s other eligibility requirements intact. The affected parties would primarily be individuals who are deaf-blind, along with the Department of Health Services and its designees responsible for eligibility determinations.
Sentiment
The available record shows no committee transcript or recorded vote history, so there is no documented debate to gauge support or opposition. Based on the bill’s narrow, eligibility-expanding purpose and its bipartisan-style sponsorship list, the measure appears to have been introduced as a targeted access-to-services bill rather than a controversial policy change. However, the bill ultimately failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1, indicating it did not advance through the legislative process.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. The likely policy question is whether deaf-blindness should be treated as an automatic functional eligibility category for Family Care, rather than requiring case-by-case qualification under existing disability or frailty standards. Any disagreement would likely center on program scope, administrative implementation, and potential fiscal impact, but the record provided does not identify any particular legislators, agencies, or stakeholder groups taking opposing positions.