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Maryland’s Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration continues to lead the state’s Medicaid long-term services and supports rebalancing efforts. This case study describes key features of Maryland’s MFP demonstration and highlights recent program experiences.
This fact sheet provides a brief overview of quality measures related to long-term services and supports rebalancing.
The Medicaid program is a major payer for long-term services and supports (LTSS) in the United States, accounting for 40 percent of total spending for long-term services and supports. The federal government has played an active role in sponsoring initiatives to promote a shift to community-based care; and evidence from several states suggests that providing care in the community can be less expensive than providing institutional care. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides incentives for…
This background paper examines various aspects of the Medicaid program that can expand access to home and community-based services (HCBS) and rebalance long-term care spending in favor of HCBS. As a result of the long-standing requirement that states cover facility-based care, the majority of Medicaid long-term care (LTC) expenditures historically have been for institutional, rather than home and community-based, services. Over the past two decades, major efforts have been undertaken by states and the Centers…
About 9 million low-income seniors and younger people with disabilities in the United States are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid. This brief examines the role of Medicare in providing health coverage for these beneficiaries. Medicare is the primary source of health insurance, while Medicaid provides supplemental coverage, helping with premiums and cost-sharing and paying for services not covered by Medicare. This brief examines overall and per capita Medicare spending for these beneficiaries, including variations…
States are increasingly interested in the individual budget model for older Medicaid beneficiaries as a mechanism to improve responsiveness of benefits to beneficiaries’ needs and preferences and to increase their ability to remain outside or leave nursing homes. Beginning in January 2007, a new provision in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) allows states to offer an individual budget option for an expanded range of home- and community-based services in their Medicaid state plans…
Medicaid spending on home and community-based service (HCBS) waivers dominates spending on community-based long-term care services offered through the Medicaid program. This paper examines trends in HCBS waiver enrollment and spending in recent years. Report (.pdf)
Long-Term Care: Medicaid's Role and Challenges This Policy Brief examines Medicaid's role in providing long-term care services. It describes long-term care services, the population that needs these services, and how people get long-term care services. It provides an overview of health insurance coverage of persons with long-term care needs and describes both Medicare's and Medicaid's role in providing these services. It also examines some of the policy issues and challenges involved in providing long-term care…
This brief focuses on one subset of “flexibility” issues: the current federal benefits and cost-sharing rules that apply with respect to long-term care. Issue Paper (.pdf)
This analysis provides a detailed look at per person Medicare spending on the nearly 30 million beneficiaries over age 65 who are enrolled in the traditional Medicare program. Among the key findings of the report is that per person spending rises with age, peaking at age 96. But this rise is not entirely explained by Medicare spending on end of life care, which declines with age. What Medicare spends money on also changes as beneficiaries…
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