Monday, May 21, 2007
Mevish Jaffer, contributing editor
The federal health care system is currently experiencing high expenditures associated with accommodating senior citizens who either are on Medicare or qualify for Medicaid and others with different disabilities in long-term care facilities. For the purpose of evaluating the efficiency of in-home care in comparison to external health care assistance such as nursing homes, federal grants have recently been awarded to several states.
July 2006 originally marked the passage of the Money Follows the Person rebalancing proposal, as announced by Health and Human Services Secretary, Mike Leavitt. This proposal consisted of initiatives related to the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 as well as those of the New Freedom Initiative, first signed into law in June, 2001 by President Bush. Representatives wanted to abolish all of the obstacles in the way of community living for individuals of all ages suffering from long-term health diseases and other disabilities. The Money Follows the Person rebalancing proposal is now enabling independent states to receive extra financial assistance from the federal government in an effort to give their senior citizens and those who are handicap a chance to live within their communities instead of confining themselves into a nursing or retirement home. $1.75 billion in completive grants is being awarded to Medicare/Medicaid centers and services over a period of five years in order to attain rebalance options for long-term care.
Current evidence is telling us that people who require long-term health care are choosing to live in their own homes and communities and other studies strongly indicate that Medicaid stands to gain long-term financial achievement from the rebalancing program. As a result, federal law makers continue to remain optimistic that all states will eventually take part in the five year demonstration program. States that are selected to get grant money will be eligible for a higher percentage of federal matching funds in order to finance the expenses related with uprooting people from their nursing homes back into the community. Those in favor of the program believe that a greater number of people will benefit by having the ability to relocate from the estimated $14,000 in grant awards.
Grant funding for the first batch of states were awarded earlier this year, however the second batch of grants were recently announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The fourteen states chosen to receive a projected $547 million in grant money include Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisianan, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia. The main objective of the program is to create a new form of the Medicaid system, one that will allow the elderly and disabled people in our communities to receive home-based care versus the traditional nursing home environment.
