Maine

Recognizing caregivers' needs, many federal and state lawmakers have spent the past several years introducing legislation to provide supports to caregiving families. Unfortunately, fiscal crises and other pressing social concerns have meant that few of these proposals have actually passed or been enacted. Trends in caregiver legislation introduced in 2007 and 2008 are summarized and those that have been successful are highlighted.

The study compares monthly income for people receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to local median incomes and Fair Market Rent rates for modest units across the U.S. In 2008, there were 219 housing markets in 41 states where recipients of SSI, people with long-term disabilities and virtually no assets, would have to pay 100% of their income for a modest one-bedroom unit. Ten years ago there were 44 such markets in 13 states. Policy recommendations are given to reverse this trend.

Follow the link for a comprehensive listing of state statutes, regulations, policies, and procedures regarding the use of emergency or planned physical, chemical, mechanical, or other restraints. Additional documents offer information on positive behavior support guidelines, training manuals, and other policy-related materials. Many emphasize the use of positive or non-aversive interventions. Links are provided to access documents on many state DD agency websites.

Three key issues affecting the understanding of low rates of successful employment outcomes for people with mental illness are explored. These are: lack of a common definition of successful employment; lack of clear, objective, standardized data; and differences among states and programs in measuring client characteristics. Peer critiques to the data and analysis are provided along with tables comparing employment outcomes by state.

New York spends more than most states on Medicaid and long-term care. To understand why this is, the following traits are evaluated: demographics of residents over 65; poverty level; long-term care spending, budgets, and services; and quality of nursing home care. The findings identify a number of demographic and program factors likely contributing to the high rate of spending.

This paper provides an overview of the health coverage interventions tested by CMS DSW demonstration grantees and examines four approaches in more detail through the following four case studies:(1)Subsidizing Employer Based Insurance(North Carolina),(2)Prescription Discounts, Basic Health Insurance and Tax-Free Accounts(New Mexico),(3)DirigoChoice and Outreach to Home Care Agencies(Maine)and (4)Outreach to Consumer-Directed Home Care Workers (Washington).

This fact sheet examines the assistance for Medicaid programs and key health provisions in the ARRA that President Obama signed into law on February 17, 2009. Subjects covered include the temporary increase in federal matching money for state Medicaid programs, subsidies for COBRA health coverage for laid off workers and funding for health information technology. It includes a breakdown of additional federal allocations to states for Medicaid costs under the act.

This eighth edition of this reference report presents comparable state- and national-level data for more than 140 indicators on long-term services and supports from a wide variety of sources. Published approximately every two years, the series was developed to help inform policy discussions among public and private sector leaders. This publication presents the most up-to-date data available at the time of production, and is displayed in easy-to-use maps, graphics, tables, and state profiles.

An interactive map displays how many 1915(c) waivers each state has. Clicking on a state’s name displays number of participant and expenditures by waiver type as compared to nationwide numbers. Participant and expenditure data are also available for personal care, home health, and individualized budget services. Clicking “Compare” in any data area displays a table illustrating selected data for all states. Information is taken from CMS form 372 and is downloadable.

This website is an on-line query system based on AoA-related data files and surveys, and includes population characteristics from the Census Bureau. The system allows users to produce descriptive information in graphical or tabular form, at the level of detail most suited for their needs. The four options through AGID provide different levels of focus and aggregation of the data from individual data elements within Data-at-a-Glance to full database access within Data Files.