I petition to allow family members acting as caretakers and guardians of physically handicapped individuals, to receive compensation for the care provided. This should be done in lieu of only allowing home health care agencies, and/or Medicaid providers to be paid for such services. This should be done to allow for an income for the family of physically disabled individuals, including parents acting as care-takers for their handicapped children. This would potentially save the Medicaid system large amounts of money , as the family would provide care at a lower rate. It would also decrease these families needs to be on other government assistance programs such as food stamps,etc. It would also alleviate the need for placement in facilities and allow more people to remain in their homes.



