My very first bill that became law focused on healthcare for our aging population. This year, thanks to input from a constituent, I continue that focus.
As always, I welcome input/suggestions to this proposal.
From The State (1/11/2012)
Bill aims to give help to dementia sufferers
Families hit by Alzheimer’s might be interested in a bill pre-filed in the S.C. House by Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Richland.
The bill, H.4483 , exempts from property taxes the house (and up to an acre of land) owned by a person with dementia as long as the person lives in the house.
Studies have shown the general health of people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia usually is better if they stay in their homes as long as possible. Exempting that home from property tax might factor into the decision of whether to get dementia sufferers into long-term care facilities outside the home.
Few of the hundreds of bills introduced each year make it through the legislative process to become law, but at least this one could start discussion about the best ways to impact dementia care in the state.
This is such a good, common sense, right thing to do. I can’t see anyone opposing this. Good job Nathan.
I like this Nathan. Both of my Grandmas would have benefitted from this bill.
My Mom had Alzheimer’s which is a horrible disease. She passed away last October because she was in a nursing home for approximately 5 days and was left unattended and fell and broke her hip which led to a heart attack and her kidneys shut down and she died shortly after that. I do think that bill is great and hope that it passes. I do think that we need to look at the amount of beds that were cut in the nursing homes because most people eventually run out of money and have to go from private pay to medicaid. Because the nursing homes know you have a certain amount of money which will run out they only have a certain amount of beds that are Medicaid beds and could not take my Mom at the Lowman Home because the number had been cut by at least 20 beds. The sad part is that they actually had the beds but she could not even go there even though we could have paid for a certain amount of time but due to Governor Haley’s cuts alll nursing homes were affected. I could not bring my Mom home because I also take care of a disable husband. Every day of my life now I keep thinking what if I had done something else. I know it is definitely wrong that my Mom fell out of a wheel chair in a room left unattended because she did not realize she could not walk. My Mom never should have had to live her last few weeks in such pain. We need to look at this also. The elderly need a voice to speak up for them. They should not be abused at all. They give love when there children are born and there children should do this back to them.
The tax relief bill is a wonderful thing but we need to look at giving back the beds for future Medicaid patients. Whatever I need to do to make this happen I will try. I was told by the Lowman Home if I had asked for a room – bed before July 1, 2011 my Mom would have been accepted. This would have been 2 miles from my home. I could have still take care of my husband and visited my Mom daily also. I will never get over this and I do blame the cuts with part of loosing my Mom. Let’s please work on this also. Thanks for all you do and if this law passes iit needs to be put out so people will know about it.
I just read the bill H4483 and also wonder why the following should not be added to this bill. My husband has had a stroke in August of 2005, AAA surgery in October 2006, 2 stents in December 2005, a broken shoulder in June of 2008, broken ankle April 2009, seizures and a combination of all the above is not I. Good health. I am the one and only primary care giver. He also has Magular degeneration and COPD. He is showing signs of dimentia also. I do believe if a person has all of this they should also qualify for the tax exemption of personal property tax. Since by what I have read maybe you can add more medical problems because all of what I have listed. Have you also thought about an exemption on vehicles. A lot of mileage can be put on a vehicle just going to doctors and hospitals. I would say exempt boats – outboard motors but I think it should be based on the type because we have a pontoon boat which I have a difficult time getting him on it but he had to give his bass boat away due to his balance. I do believe this is worth looking into. Once again, thanks for your help.
What about us poor parents trying to care for Special Needs adult children at home. Some property tax exemption would greatly assist us with trying to keep our adults children in our homes as long as possible.