Alaska's state programs intended to help disabled and elderly Alaskans with daily life - taking a bath, eating dinner, getting to the bathroom - are so poorly managed, the state cannot assure the health and well-being of the people they are supposed to serve, a new federal review found. <br /> <br />The situation is so bad the federal government has forbidden the state to sign up new people until the state makes necessary improvements. <br /> <br />No other state in the nation is under such a moratorium, according to a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. <br /> <br />In the meantime, frail and vulnerable Alaskans who desperately need the help are struggling. One elderly woman is stuck in a nursing home, for lack of care at home. Another woman, suffering from chronic pain and fatigue, said she's so weak, she often can't even pop dinner into the microwave. <br /> <br />The moratorium is expected to last four or five months. State officials estimate about 1,000 Alaskans will be affected. <br /> <br />A particularly alarming finding concerns deaths of adults in the programs. In one 2 1/2 year stretch, 227 adults already getting services died while waiting for a nurse to reassess their needs. Another 27 died waiting for their initial assessment, to see if they qualified for help.
