AUGUSTA – Advocates filled the State House’s welcome center during a news conference held Monday to show their support for a bill that would overhaul Maine’s long-term care system by allowing for more choice and self-directed care for older adults and those with disabilities enrolled in MaineCare.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Matt Peterson, D-Rumford, which does not call for any additional funding, provides a blueprint for future spending, making it easier to access care at home.

“The goal is to move toward a more 50-50 balance between institutional long-term care and home-based care,” Peterson said in an interview. “At the heart of it is the promotion of consumer choice.”

Peterson said he wants people needing long-term care to be able to stay in their home as long as they want, which would save money for the state. Institutional or nursing home care is much costlier to provide than community- or home-based options.

“The idea is to get this system as lean, mean and efficient as possible,” he said.

Supporters of the bill, which had a public hearing on Monday, included about 50 members of Maine’s AARP chapter and the Maine Women’s Lobby.

“Nine cents of every MaineCare dollar spent on long-term care goes to home-based care,” said Nancy Kelleher, Maine’s AARP director. “I think that is a shocking number that reveals how out of balance our current system is.”

Kelleher said Peterson’s bill provides a good first step in improving Maine’s system.

Sen. Peter Mills, R-Skowhegan, said the legislation pays important attention to the person receiving care.

“The ability to select those caring for you is significant and right now that’s not a part of our law,” Mills said at the news conference. “The provision that gives clients better capability to direct the course of their own care, to chose those providing intimate care, to select the kind of care you want and the people that would be delivering it, is an important aspect to the bill.”

Rick Erb, executive director of the Maine Health Care Association, and a representative from Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services, spoke neither for nor against the bill. No one opposed the measure.

The bill is scheduled for a work session on Wednesday.