Policy alerts, briefs, letters & papers

Find a summary of the CLASS Act developed by the AARP Public Policy Institute. The legislation creates a voluntary national insurance program for long-term services and supports (LTSS) to help address the financial challenges many American households face when confronted with the high cost of LTSS. This fact sheet succinctly answers questions such as who can participate in CLASS, what are the benefit amounts, how are premiums computed and how CLASS interacts with Medicaid.

What are the housing challenges facing older adults? Find out in this report that also explores strategies to better enable older adults to age in place or in their community. It discusses accessible, safe, and affordable housing, access to social services and transportation, and housing models that help to allow aging in place. Also included is a link to an online toolkit, and a series of fact sheets on housing for seniors.

Find an example of a comprehensive, user-friendly guide to long term care planning. Developed by the District of Columbia, this publication provides a detailed overview of long term care (LTC) options, and includes information on understanding the need for LTC, costs, financing, and service and support options. Easy to understand graphics and data are included. This guide can serve as an example for other organizations looking to develop similar consumer-oriented materials.

Review this series of handouts that discuss key considerations for program planners and managers and staff involved in options counseling. Core competencies identified and detailed are: determining the need for options counseling; assessing needs, values and preferences; understanding and educating about public and private sector resources; facilitating self-direction/self-determination; encouraging future orientation; and following-up. Additional resources are offered for each core competency.

Long-term services and supports (LTSS) for the elderly and younger populations with disabilities are a significant component of national health care spending. In 2008, spending for these services was almost $191.1 billion (almost 10 percent of all U.S. personal health care spending), most of it paid by the federal-state Medicaid program. This publication presents data on LTSS spending by major public and private sources.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) established the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) program, a new federally administered voluntary insurance program to help adults age 18 and over with disabilities pay for long-term services and supports (LTSS). This publication describes the major provisions of the legislation, including requirements for enrollment and eligibility, benefits and services, premium amounts, the CLASS Act trust fund, and timelines.

Several of ACA’s provisions directly impact eldercare and disability employers and direct-care staff. This is the first in a series of fact sheets describing these. Key health reform provisions related to investments in direct-care worker training and workforce development are highlighted. These include national advisory panels as well as grant opportunities for states and individual employers. These provisions will be enacted over several years.

The Departments of HHS, Labor, and Treasury issued regulations to implement a new Patient’s Bill of Rights under the ACA – which will help children (and eventually all Americans) with pre-existing conditions gain coverage and keep it, protect Americans’ choice of doctors and end lifetime limits on the care consumers may receive. Review this fact sheet, geared towards the consumer, summarizing the legislation’s impact on them.

Find a link to a collection of fact sheets published by the AARP Public Policy Institute that discuss how health reform legislation specifically affects aspects of Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance and coverage, the health care delivery system, prevention, long term care options, and the primary care workforce. One specific fact sheet address how "Health Care Reform Improves Access to Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services".

Review a draft of VHA’s VD-HCBS Procedures including participation requirements, target population details, services and goods offered, allowable expenditures, referral and follow up processes, rate determination and construction, VAMC payments, payment rates for non-professional workers and workload reporting. VA contacts are listed. This is a working document, revised on 3/22/10.