796 Signatures. Rose Comes Home July 23.
Hello Caregiver Advocates:
711 supporters. 796 signatures. 204 from 1,000.
This week I want to tell you what preparation looks like - and what it assumes about families that most families can't meet.
Rose is being discharged from Julia Temple on July 23. Janet and I have spent this week acquiring a commode, a bathing bench, an entry ramp for the threshold, and a gait belt for two-person transfers while she remains zero weight bearing. Kaiser's home care team will come on July 24 to assess whether the house is ready. They noted we are unusually prepared.
Most families, at this stage, have not yet begun.
That is not a compliment. It is a diagnosis about what the discharge system assumes families can absorb - financially, physically, and in terms of space - with no mechanism to see the gap between the assumption and the reality.
I also want to name a number this week. Because most people don't encounter it until they're standing at it.
To qualify for Colorado Medicaid long-term care in 2026, you must have $2,000 or less in countable assets. Income must be under $2,982 per month. The state reviews all asset transfers from the prior five years. A nursing home in Colorado costs $10,200 a month without Medicaid coverage.
The family that can afford the gait belt and the ramp delays the spend-down trajectory. The family that can't arrives at Medicaid faster - and at greater cost to the state, because an arrangement failure produces a nursing home admission that costs the Commission far more than the hour-cap savings were supposed to generate.
My July 7 stakeholder submission to the Colorado Commission on Medicaid makes this case with verified figures. As of today, it remains unconfirmed. I followed up July 9. The August 14 Medical Services Board vote is coming. The data the Commission needs to make that decision well exists. It has not yet been requested.
Your signatures are part of what makes this visible. Please share the petition this week with one person who is preparing for something the system doesn't see.
The Revenue Neutral Caregiver - Before She Comes Home - July 18 2026
Share the Petition: The CARE Act: A Smart Investment
Kindly and Gratefully,
Mark Fukae Founder, CASI | Director of Advocacy, Professionals Who Care