The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

FAIRFIELD, IOWA -- Sunnybrook Homecare is lobbying for more tax dollars to be allocated to Medicaid.

60 percent of their patients use Medicaid to pay for the company's nurses to conduct daily medical visits in their homes.

With Iowa's growing number of elderly, they say home care should receive a bigger portion of the Iowa state budget because it helps patients stay out of the hospital, which saves the patient and the state thousands of dollars.

"Last year, the Governor had to cut Medicaid by 5 percent and that's a direct cut on us.  That's 5 percent for all Medicaid cases that we do," said Harley Carter, owner of SunnyBrook Homecare. "We would like to reinstate that money because we look upon what we do as an investment, not an expenditure."

Carter says home care is an investment because its keeps patients like Catherine Mineart out of the nursing home. Mineart had fluid backed up in her legs and was told she may have to have them amputated and move into a nursing home. Instead, she chose to give home care a try. Four months later, with the help of a nurse coming to her house everyday, the swelling has gone down and Mineart is ecstatic that she doesn't have to worry about moving out of her home.

"I would never get out of a nursing home," said Mineart. "I have nothing against nursing homes but I just don't want to live there for the rest of my life. "I've got a life here. In a nursing home you don't have much of a life."

SunnyBrook Homecare wanted to share Mineart's story to Rep. Curt Hanson, in hopes that he will fight for more Medicaid dollars to be allocated to home care. They invited him to Mineart's nurse visit so he could see the impact home care is having on their patients.