LONG-TERM CARE REFORM: LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS TO SHIFT CARE TO THE COMMUNITY

Legislators are key players in each state’s political system. They join with a state’s chief executive to develop the framework for public policy and for its implementation. In the course of a legislator’s career, he or she is faced with a myriad of critical issues from highway construction to educational issues to health and drug safety.

In recent years, one of the most significant of these issues – and one of the toughest challenges – for state legislators has been escalating Medicaid spending, which now outranks education as the largest slice of a state’s budget. Total Medicaid expenditures in FY 2005 were $304.5 billion, of which about 31 percent or $94.8 billion was allocated to long-term care.

Connecting Tags; Medicaid, long term care, community-based, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy