Hospice Volunteer Training Online: The New Health Care Laws and Home-Based Care

The number of Americans over 65 will increase dramatically in the next decade, as around 75 million Baby Boomers reach the retirement age. The new health care reform bills are designed to help Medicaid and Medicare take the strain. The American Association for Retired People (AARP) reports that it costs as many Medicaid dollars to care for one person in a nursing home as it costs to care for three older adults and people with disabilities in home and community-based settings.

The National Council on Aging (NCOA) estimates that more than 10 million Americans are currently in need of long-term services that help them function in their daily life. That number is expected to rise to nearly 15 million by 2020.

Many studies have shown that carefully managed “aging in place” is also beneficial in terms of quality of life. The new laws provide new long-term care options to allow more seniors to stay in their current homes rather than seek institutionalized care. The new laws include the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports act (CLASS). It will allow adults with mobility problems to receive home care through a voluntary insurance plan. Related programs will improve access to home and community-based services to complement CLASS, including one that provides matching federal dollars to states that expand their home care services.

The CLASS Act
CLASS is a voluntary insurance program. Here are its main features:

Working adults who need daily assistance will have at least $50 per day to pay for home care – more if the adult has a higher level of impairment.

After five years of paying into the program, recipients can use the money to pay for a home health care aide.

CLASS funds can also be used to pay for:

Adult day care

Transportation

Safety features in the home, such as grab bars and handrails.

Assisted-living facilities and nursing homes if living at home becomes impracticable.

CLASS includes protections to ensure that the program will be solvent for 75 years. It could eventually result in Medicaid savings.

Seniors who enroll in CLASS will have a better chance to remain independent and active in their communities. CLASS also helps their caregivers, who in many cases are adult children who have to spend a significant amount of time and money looking after their parents.

Related programs
Another benefit to seniors is a collection of programs that improve access to Medicaid’s home-based and community-based services.

The Community First Choice program – this creates a state-based plan to keep people with disabilities who require the level of care expected from a nursing homes, but by providing them with home-based attendant services. States that adopt this program will receive matching federal funds.

Information and counseling about care – there is increased funding for Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRC). These offer information and counseling about the various long-term health-care options available to seniors.

Financial protections – another provision protects spouses from being forced to spend all the couple’s assets to get access to home- and community-based care. This is similar to benefits already in place for nursing home residents who are covered under Medicaid.

The above programs are designed to help seniors stay at home as they age. There are also new provisions for those who have no alternative but to move into a nursing home. Nursing homes will be required to submit ownership information, staffing data and other items to increase transparency and accountability. People will be able to search the Nursing Home Compare Web site and find information on quality of care, consumer rights, staffing and other issues to help them choose a nursing home.

A step in the right direction
We’ll post links to government sites with full details of the new programs, including timelines, once the details are worked out. This all looks like a step in the right direction. The new provisions are certainly a long way from the fictitious threats to senior health care that the scare tacticians have been regurgitating over the past year.

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