Each Friday, Eye on the Statehouse will announce its “Porker of the Week.” It’s our way of calling attention to a particularly big or wasteful spender.

For the second straight week, our Porker of the Week is the Ohio House of Representatives. This week’s transgression was the inclusion of an additional $50 million for long-term nursing home care in the unanimously passed state budget bill.

Nursing home care is almost three times more expensive than long-term care in home or community settings. In a state which ranks near the top in the nation for nursing home usage, Ohio should be trying to move long-term care away from costly nursing homes into more affordable home and community care.

The increased funding was a great victory for the state’s powerful nursing home lobby. Legislators decided to put the interests of this special interest group over the interests of taxpayers and those seeking long-term care. This is another in a long line of victories for the nursing home lobbyists. For instance, while every other industry in the state is gearing up to comply with the statewide smoking ban, nursing homes are exempt. It must be nice to have such sway in Columbus.

Nursing homes should certainly play a part in Ohio’s long-term care picture; some people are better served in them than in home and community-based care. However, few other states rely so heavily on expensive nursing homes for long-term care. Many people can be served as well (or better) outside of an institutional setting and it costs taxpayers far less for this care. Ohio policymakers should be looking to reduce its reliance on nursing home care, not giving more money to the nursing home industry.

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