Once a senior begins receiving long-term care services, she and her family often are in for two shocks. The first is that Medicare won’t pay beyond perhaps a few months after a hospitalization. The second is that while Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor, may help, chances are it will only do so for nursing home residents.
Now, as part of the broader health reform debate, Congress may be about to make it easier for families to keep their loved ones at home, even if they are getting Medicaid. Under one plan, backed by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, states would have to offer the same access to home care as they do for nursing facilities. A second, more modest bill, sponsored by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, would make more disabled and frail elderly eligible for home care and provide extra federal funding for states that create generous home care programs. The “Empowered at Home Act,” which probably has a better chance than the Harkin bill, would not require states to offer these benefits.
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