Affordable Care Act (ACA)

In March 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). This historic piece of legislation presents significant opportunities to improve access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans. This is particularly true for homeless people and people at risk of homelessness, whose options for accessing physical and behavioral health care services, health promotion services, and chronic disease management programs have historically been limited.

“The Innovation Center” is a new engine for revitalizing and sustaining the Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP programs and ultimately to help to improve the healthcare system for all Americans. The Center, established by the Affordable Care Act, was given the flexibility and resources to rapidly test innovative care and payment models and scale up successful models. Visit the website to read about new initiatives such as Partnership for Patients. There is also an area to share your own ideas.

To date, the ACA has provided or offered $2.8 billion in funding to states. This includes funding for long-term care and health workforce needs. This report, released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, highlights the flexibility and resources provided by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to improve health care benefits and protect consumers.

How can states provide outreach and resources to employers in order to encourage and support them in hiring individuals with disabilities? Explore the "Abilities" newsletter archive in order to see examples of the electronic newsletter to employers produced every other month by the state of Vermont. May be helpful for other MIG states working to reach out to employers.

In July 2010, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured surveyed states about the current status of their Money Follows the Person (MFP) program including trends in enrollment, services and per capita spending. Explore the report for information on the findings regarding information on transitions back to the community, the average monthly cost of transitioning a MFP participant to the community, obstacles to transition, and more.

To learn more about long-term services and supports, the key characteristics of a high-performing system, and new options and incentives in the Affordable Care Act that can support cost-effective programs to help people with disabilities remain in their homes and communities, access this article. This paper outlines the five key characteristics of a high-performing system of long-term services and supports and describes an emerging “scorecard” that could help measure states’ progress.

A vast majority of Americans age 50 and over would prefer to live independently in their own homes and communities as long as they can, rather than relinquish control over their lives in a nursing facility. In this brief video, AARP provides an overview of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) program, i.e., how it works, what it covers and how it can be beneficial.

NJ’s charge to advance a Medicaid LTC system where there would be more options for community care, greater consumer choice and allowance for maximum flexibility between nursing homes and HCBS is “definitely showing positive trend lines” according to this report. The state’s Global Budget Projection model offers a budgetary process for tracking and projecting its LTC expenditures. Explore detailed information about the model’s methodology and findings.

Only 10% of Americans have long-term care insurance and many insurance companies have terminated, or significantly raised the cost of their long-term care insurance offerings. Within this context, the author examines the CLASS program and compares its various features to currently available long-term care insurance policies, focusing on benefit eligibility, enrollment procedures, scope of benefits, ease of acquisition, program solvency, premium stability, and other features.

With Medicaid slated to become the nation's single largest insurer covering 25 percent of all Americans, getting Medicaid payment right is critical. This policy brief examines the requirements of federal law that govern Medicaid payment practices and reflects on the implications of federal health reform. It is intended to provide federal and state government officials and other Medicaid stakeholders with an accessible legal context for understanding Medicaid payment as we know it.