Nebraska

This year, the Older Americans Act (OAA) celebrates its 50th year—a golden jubilee for seniors and communities across the country. For this occasion, ADvancing States and Altarum Institute’s Center for Elder Care and Advanced Illness (CECAI) honor outstanding older adults who both volunteer for and benefit from the law’s programs. This booklet highlights the myriad ways that seniors make the United States a great place in which to live, work, and grow old. Email adiaz@advancingstates.org for a hard copy.

The results of the annual survey represent a snapshot of the current status of state government employees, the agencies that administer the programs, and the services that are provided. The 2015 survey revealed that states are continuing to address the same underlying challenges discussed in the previous reports.The report also includes summary tables that outline specific information about each individual state agency and LTSS program. Email adiaz@advancingstates.org to request a hard copy version.

Justice in Aging, in collaboration with the Alzheimer's Association, released a new survey of dementia training requirements in each state. The number of Alzheimer's and other dementia diagnoses is on the rise, but there is often little to no training for staff and professionals that work with these populations. This survey was conducted to identify the holes in state law and to find promising practices to inform improvements in the future. The findings are available in a five-paper series.

In honor of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), this annual report focuses on how the ADA and other federal legislation has been implemented by five different state and local agencies. The report examines employment, education, health care, transportation, and housing to demonstrate the importance of the federal legislation and disability advocates. The report also offers recommendations to inform policymakers on changes to be made in the future legislation.

This is an annual report from United Cerebral Palsy that uses a set of key indicators to investigate data and outcomes of the community living standards for individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the United States. The findings from this report can inform policymakers and advocates on improvements and changes to ensure the best quality of life for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) released a report on the Eldercare Locator, a national information and referral resource, funded by the Administration on Aging, that provides assistance to older adults and caregivers. The report draws on data from the locator, breaking the data into different categories.The trends in this data reflect information gathered from 271,234 contacts made with the Eldercare Locator.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation released an issue brief reviewing the national and state-level Medicaid Advantage enrollment trends as of March 2015. It was believed that the reductions in payments to Medicare Advantage plans would reduce enrollments, but it has actually increased by 5.6 million. One key finding showed that "Almost one in three (31%) of people on Medicare (16.8 million beneficiaries) were enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan in March 2015."

Mathematica Policy Research published a report examining the relationship between the primary impairments of Social Security disability beneficiaries and the employment and earning experiences of the beneficiaries. The report can inform policymakers on innovative ways to assist beneficiaries in becoming self-sufficient and gaining employment. The researchers found considerable differences in employment and earning across the primary impairments studied.

The UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform and Modernization released a new brief. Many Americans do not have health insurance coverage, and Medicaid enrollment can cover the gap of the uninsured, if successful practices are used. This brief highlights four approaches used in Kentucky and Arkansas to increase enrollment for low-income residents to cut their uninsured populations in half. The solutions in this brief can inform other states on efforts to decrease the number of uninsured people.

This report is a study of the severe housing affordability problems experienced by people with disabilities. Priced Out calculates the difference between what an individual receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) can reasonably afford to pay for housing costs and the average cost of modest housing units. The report confirms that non-elderly adults with disabilities living on SSI confront an enormous housing affordability gap across the entire nation.