The American Association of Retired Persons, including its Mississippi chapter, wants lawmakers here to expand government-funded programs to pay for more in-home medical services to people who would otherwise be in nursing homes.

If the AARP doesn’t succeed this year — and it won’t because nursing homes don’t think it’s such a hot idea — the AARP will be back next year and the next.

Its arguments are (1) financial and (2) personal preference.

For a bed, nursing services and meals, Mississippi now pays a nursing home $70,000 a year to house a Medicaid client, which is a steeply discounted price. The total doesn’t include medicine, therapy, doctor visits and such.

Charlie Mitchell is executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. Write to him at Box 821668, Vicksburg, MS 39182, or e-mail.

AARP points out that if people can stay in their own homes, which they say most would rather do, the public expense of food and housing can be avoided, resulting in a public cost about a third as much as the total for a nursing home resident.

Mississippi is also behind the times, AARP says, because it spends about 11 percent of its Medicaid long-term care money on home- and community-based services, while the national average is 25 percent.

With an increase in public money for in-home care, there would also likely be an increase in what are known as personal care homes. The family of Janice Hollins might have some thoughts about that.

You might remember Hollins, who was 48. She essentially froze to death on Jan. 4 in a Jackson home. The woman being paid to take care of Hollins, who was mentally challenged, and an undetermined number of other people, hasn’t had much to say about it.

Jackson police and the Hind County coroner said Hollins was in a bed in a room with two broken windows. The only heat anywhere in the frame home on a residential street came from an oven, when it was turned on.

Janice Hollins — though someone was being paid hundreds of dollars a month to take care of her — died an agonizing death out of pure neglect, inhumane indifference.

State authorities say think there are about 180 personal care homes in Mississippi, but it’s hard to know because families sometimes make their own deals. The rules say that any person paid to care for up to three people in a group home is supposed to have a license from the state Department of Human Services. Hollins’ family apparently just signed over her Social Security or disability checks to the woman who operated the home where Hollins died. The home was not licensed, which, under state law, is merely a misdemeanor.

Group homes with four or more clients are supposed to be licensed by the state Department of Health, which has four inspectors on the its payroll — four.

There are two hard truths that must be confronted. One is that Mississippi has an abysmal record with regulatory enforcement of all sorts. The other is that the number of scammers rises in direct proportion to the amount of government money on the table.

Whether the topic is overloaded log trucks, restaurants, zoning or building codes, Mississippians are known for seeing inspectors as impeding commerce, meddling or interfering with private property rights. Nobody likes it when the fire department guy “snoops” around and points out safety hazards.

And one need only remember the aftermath of Katrina in 2005 to realize personal tragedy for some is a bonanza for others. In the years since the hurricane, prosecuting fraudulent relief claims, large and small, has been the No. 1 activity for the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. Official estimates are that 8 percent of the $5.2 billion sent to Mississippi will, in essence, has been or will be stolen.

There is absolutely no doubt there are caring personal care home operators in Mississippi. The majority are, no doubt, a real blessing for individuals who need constant care and for their families who have few, if any options, except to place their trust in individuals and businesses that provide essential services.

There is also absolutely no doubt that if Mississippi lawmakers, for whatever reason, increase the flow of government cash to in-home or personal care home operators without serious, stringent and intensive monitoring of those cashing the checks, there will be more horrific deaths in the news and more horrific conditions inflicted the elderly and disabled by profiteers that may or may not make headlines.

Nursing homes have had problems, too. But they’re inspected, frequently visited by the public and subject to comparison shopping.

That’s not true of personal care homes. The AARP’s good intentions could result in nightmares for the most vulnerable among us.