Critics of Medicaid’s long-term services and supports (LTSS) program often complain that it is so poorly designed that lavishes benefits on wealthy retirees and wastes billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Some people do abuse the system. And they should be stopped. But the real problem with Medicaid LTSS is that in many states its benefits are so paltry that [...]
Soon, California residents with personal care needs will be eligible for Medicaid long-term care no matter how much money and other assets they have. On July 1, the state will increase the program’s asset limit from $2,000 for an individual to $130,000 and from $3,000 for a couple to $195,000. The state plans to end the limit entirely as soon [...]
What would you do if the federal government gave you a chunk of $12 billion to spend on Medicaid home and community-based care for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities? That is a real question governors have been wrestling for months. And we now are getting a good sense of the answer: Mostly, they will spend the windfall [...]
President Biden’s proposed massive expansion of Medicaid home-based long-term care is running into trouble in the Senate. And it may be done in, not by hard-core conservatives, but by a small group of self-styled Senate moderates. In his American Jobs Plan, Biden proposed increasing the federal share of Medicaid’s home and community-based services (HCBS) program by $400 billion—the largest increase [...]
The Biden Administration has given the green light for states to begin to tap into about $12 billion in additional funding for Medicaid home-based long-term supports and services. In guidance issued to state Medicaid directors late last week, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) granted the states broad flexibility in how they use the money. The funds, [...]
President Biden’s $400 billion plan to expand Medicaid’s home and community based services (HCBS) for people receiving long-term services and supports (LTSS) already has accomplished one major goal: It has policymakers and opinion leaders talking about how we care for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. We not had a long-term care conversation like this since Congress created [...]
In his American Jobs Plan, President Biden has proposed increasing federal support for home-based long-term care by a staggering $400 billion over eight years. A $50 billion annual increase would represent a roughly 40 percent increase in the $129 billion Medicaid spent on long-term care in 2018 and a 70 percent increase in that year’s home and community-based services (HCBS) [...]
The massive pandemic relief bill that the House is likely to approve by the end of this week includes billions of dollars in new funding for government long-term services and supports (LTSS) for frail older adults and young people with disabilities. But, paradoxically, the most far-reaching change may be from a temporary funding increase for Medicaid home and community-based services [...]
Is the growing need for long-term supports and services (LTSS) by older adults driving big increases in Medicaid spending? Not according to a new study by Don Redfoot and my Urban Institute colleague Melissa Favreault. Indeed, they found that while Medicaid enrollment and expenditures for older adults grew in recent decades, it had far less effect on the program than [...]
The Trump Administration announced last week that it will allow states to require Medicaid recipients to work, take job training, or do community service to stay eligible for the program, which provides both medical and long-term care services for people with low incomes. Ten states have asked to make this change, and the administration has given the greenlight to the [...]