Dupage Policy Journal

Rep. David Olsen (R-Downers Grove) has been named to a task force to work on reducing costs without reducing community care services for Illinois' seniors, according to his website.

The task force will consider alternative services and care models, ways to keep costs in check, services that allow seniors to live more independently, and what other states are practicing that works, Olsen posted. 

The task force is planning to present its recommendations to Gov. Bruce Rauner and the General Assembly early in 2018.

The state's Department of Aging website says the community care program began in 1979 to help “senior citizens, who might otherwise need nursing home care, to remain in their own homes by providing in-home and community-based services.”

The program is open to legal Illinois residents who are at least 60 years old with nonexempt assets totaling a maximum of $17,500. Services include emergency home response, in-home and adult day care.