Health and Disability

AARP will release a new report and convene a panel of experts to discuss Medicaid funding for long-term care (LTC) for older adults and adults with physical disabilities. The report analyzes the progress states are making shifting public funds and the people who rely on them from nursing homes to home and community based services.

Approximately 10 million older Americans need assistance with every day activities. Overwhelmingly, people (87 percent) prefer to receive this care in their homes or communities rather than in nursing homes. Few Americans have planned for the cost of LTC and by default Medicaid, which has an institutional bias towards nursing home care, is the primary payer.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Earlier we blogged here about the long-term care financing forum at the University of Minnesota. One of the solutions put forward came from AARP. Here are highlights from Enid Kassner, director, Independent Living/Long-Term Care Public Policy Institute. Next we’ll share an approach from the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.

AARP’s Goal:

Create an affordable, consumer and caregiver-focused system providing coverage for, and access to, high quality long-term services and supports for independent living.

1. Promote - nationally and in the states - reform of delivery and financing for long-term services and supports.

2. REFOCUS reform debate on providing: long-term services and supports for independent living . . . rather than on “long-term care” or “Medicaid Reform.”

3. Include ALL populations, people with: developmental disabilities and physical disabilities . . . while improving services for seniors.

4. Defin “long-term services and support system” as FOUR separate, but related components:

1. Caregivers
2. Housing
3. Health Care
4. Long-Term and Community-Based Supportive Services

. . . . plus mechanisms to finance each component.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

The AARP is advocating a platform called Divided We Fail. This platform essentially seeks to remove health care and long-term financial security from being partisan issues, and make them the concern of all legislators and members of Congress.

The AARP had a vendor booth at our local Traverse City Senior Expo last week. They encouraged people to sign their pledge to support those running for office who support the Divided We Fail platform.

DIVIDED WE FAIL PLATFORM
We believe that the opportunity to have access to health care and long-term financial
security is a basic need that all Americans share. We believe it is the foundation for
future generations.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

The Elder Justice Act (HR 1783) received a heap of accolades from senior care advocates and industry representatives at a hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday.

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Testimony from AARP and Robert Blancato, national coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition, highlighted the care community's support of the bill, which was introduced last year by Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL).

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Among the more than 556,000 confirmed cases of elder abuse recorded in 2004, 20,000 of those occurred in a nursing home or long-term care facility, said Blancato, speaking to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. In its submitted testimony, AARP echoed Blancato's sentiments of concern and praised the legislation.

Older adults want to use technology so they can age safely in their home. Family caregivers agree believing technology can ease some of the challenges of caregiving. Concerns such as cost to install and maintain equipment remain barriers for people 65-plus and for caregivers. These are the conclusions of two new reports, one from AARP and the other from the Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA).

The AARP Foundation commissioned this report which examined the attitudes of people 65-plus and caregivers towards technology and found that both groups are concerned about costs. The study identified a willingness to try technology like home security services, sensors to detect falls and devices to regulate temperature, lights and appliances. But cost remains a factor with seventy-five percent of caregivers and eighty percent of those 65-plus willing to pay $50.00 or less per month for the service.

"The ground is fertile for the use of caregiving technology to flourish," said Elinor Ginzler, AARP Sr. Vice President for Livable Communities. "Almost nine in ten older Americans want to be able to stay in their own homes and they are willing to use technology that can help them do that. Cost, however, is the elephant in the room-how to pay remains a big obstacle."

Results of the first nationally representative survey of reverse mortgage shoppers—older homeowners who have gone through reverse mortgage counseling and either taken out a loan or decided not to do so—are presented in this AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) Research Report by Donald L. Redfoot of PPI, Ken Scholen of the AARP Foundation, and S. Kathi Brown of AARP Knowledge Management. This survey provides the first detailed look at consumer interest in reverse mortgages, consumer experiences with lenders and counselors, why some consumers decide against these loans, how borrowers use the loan proceeds, and how well reverse mortgages address borrower needs.

WASHINGTON— AARP Legislative Counsel David Certner made the following statement today in response to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) announcement regarding poor performing nursing homes in the Special Focus Facility (SFF) program:

“Residents in the poorest performing nursing homes and their families have a right to know that the care they receive may be sub-standard. Earlier this year AARP called on CMS to release this information, and we are pleased CMS has agreed. People in need of 24-hour care should not have to be concerned that their nursing home is a potentially harmful environment. This information will also be helpful to individuals and their families who are looking to choose a quality facility.

ecently AARP began making over its member newsletters, which are customized and distributed in each of the fifty states, along with Washington, D.C., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. We’ve been editing and producing these newsletters for the past year and a half, and have learned our share of lessons about what works and what falls short.

The goal of the cover story, says Pete Wiley, manager for AARP state member communications, “should be to draw an uninterested member” into a newsletter “in a few seconds.”

Based on AARP’s revamped model, here are guidelines that will help any organization craft a sharper, more sophisticated publication.

• Focus on hard news, not staff picnics. Readers are eager to learn about the ways in which often complex legislation affects them. The redesigned newsletter presents concise stories with digestible facts on long-term care legislation, tax breaks, and various programs for low- and moderate-income residents. Most important, the stories conclude with calls-to-action, including Web links, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers that members can use to learn more.
• Use quotes, and conduct interviews with third-party experts—not internal staff. If Republican and Democratic legislators have cooperated on a bill to improve long-term care,.....