OTTAWA — The director of the area agency for the elderly says that recent cuts could be more expensive later. Elizabeth Maxwell, director of the East Kansas Area Agency on Aging told Franklin County commissioners Wednesday that state funding cuts have hit services for the elderly hard, including a 10 percent cut in Medicaid payments ordered by Gov. Mark Parkinson late last year. Especially hard-hit are in-home health services, which help keep seniors out of more expensive nursing homes, she said. Other social agencies have also been hit by the cuts, she said. Parkinson has urged that legislators reverse the cuts that he had to order.
