Reports

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.

Through collaboration with the Universities of Minnesota, Colorado, and Massachusetts, this report focuses on the services and supports for individuals with I/DD in the U.S. territories. The first long-term data collection focuses on collecting, tracking, and analyzing services to provide information to improve and increase productivity, independence, integration, and inclusion of people with I/DD into their communities.

This report for the Department of Labor examines the workforce system's current efforts to provide assistance to youth with disabilities. The focus of the research is mainly at the local level, coming from practitioners to gain insight on what factors are in need of improvement. Data was obtained through surveys completed by representatives of Local Workforce Investment Boards with specific attention to the practices and policies currently in place.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report and the white paper commissioned by the National Interprofessional Initiative on Oral Health both examine the wide disparities in oral health due to lack of access. The U.S. fails to provide proper access for ongoing and preventative oral health care needs. A push must be made to integrate dental care as a component of primary care. There is also a focus on the impact and burden of oral diseases and their effect on quality of life.

The second annual report to Congress examines the services utilized by Medicaid's behavioral health beneficiaries. The findings indicate that low-income children have high levels of unmet need in the mental health care arena. Additionally, the review of Medicaid's dental coverage found considerable variation between states, particularly for services provided to adults. The report findings illustrate the potential directions for change to improve care for beneficiaries.

A report published by the Government Accountability Office found that almost 4 million seniors are faced with food insecurity. Findings showed that 1 in 5 seniors did not know where their next meal would come from and were in need of transportation services. However, some improvement was seen with home-based care. This report indicates that the funding for the Older Americans Act program is not sufficient for the increasing population.

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.

Adult day services (ADS)--a non-residential service provided outside an individual's home for less than a full day--provides direct care to older adults and younger adults with physical disabilities. This report provides information about each state's approach to regulating this key community service. The report details different models, forms of regulation, and funding sources used by states to run ADS programs.

This study provides insights into higher-hour caregivers (at least 21 hours of care a week), caregivers ages 75 and older, multicultural caregivers, and the challenges facing caregivers in the workplace. While the “typical” family caregiver is a 49-year-old woman who cares for a relative, caregivers on the whole are becoming much more diverse. The study found nearly a quarter of America’s caregivers are millennials between the ages of 18 and 34 and are equally likely to be male or female.

This primer describes long-term services and supports (LTSS) delivery and financing in the U.S. and highlights covered services and supports, types of care providers and care settings, beneficiary subpopulations, costs and financing models, quality improvement efforts, and recent LTSS reform initiatives.