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U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, recently joined her Senate colleagues to introduce the Home and Community-Based Services Access Act, legislation to ensure older adults and people with disabilities have a choice between receiving long-term care at home or in institutional settings.
The legislation would make home and community-based care a mandatory Medicaid benefit, gradually eliminate waiting lists for services, strengthen the home and community-based care workforce, and provide greater support for family caregivers.
Under current Medicaid policy, many older adults and people with disabilities have access to nursing homes and other institutional care, but if they want to remain in their home and community, access to home and community-based services often depends on state waiver programs that can leave people waiting years -- or even decades -- for the care they need. The HCBS Access Act would expand access to home and community-based care and ensure that people who want to stay in their home and receive care can.
"A safe, accessible place to live should be a right, not a privilege, for our seniors," Gillibrand said. "The Home and Community-Based Services Access Act would help ensure that New York seniors and people with disabilities can access the care that best meets their needs, allowing them to live comfortably in the communities of their choice. As the top Democrat on the Senate Aging Committee, I'll keep fighting to remove barriers to HCBS and expand access to quality, affordable care for our seniors."
Specifically, the Home and Community-Based Services Access Act would:
– Make HCBS a mandatory Medicaid benefit, ensuring eligible individuals can choose between receiving care at home or in an institutional setting.
– Eliminate the need for administratively burdensome Medicaid HCBS waiver programs.
– Increase federal Medicaid funding for home and community-based services.
– Provide grants to help states expand their HCBS capacity and reduce waiting lists.
– Strengthen the direct care workforce by improving job quality, stability, and workforce availability.
– Support states in providing caregiving workers with stable, quality jobs and living wages.
– Expand training and support for family caregivers.
– Improve oversight and quality assurance for home and community-based services.
The HCBS Access Act is supported by Justice in Aging, National Health Law Program, PHI, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Caring Across, National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), Autism Society of America, The Arc of the United States, Well Spouse Association, Little Lobbyists, Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, CommunicationFIRST, Independence Center, Cure SMA, Lakeshore Foundation, American Association on Health and Disability, Care in Action, National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD), National Alliance for Caregiving, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors (NACBHDD), Easterseals, Autism Speaks, ANCOR, ADAPT, and MomsRising.