Building Choice into Long Term Care

Building Choice into Long Term Care
In the past, fate has dictated the passing of life in what are euphemistically called "nursing homes". But there is no longer a need for such a fate, if we are willing to work to change the rules.

Home

Consortium

MACIL

CoPower

Conspiracy of Crows

Sunday, April 30, 2006

[Web Exclusives] An Early Look At Ten State HIFA Medicaid Waivers.

In an examination of ten Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability (HIFA) demonstrations, a major Medicaid initiative of the Bush administration, we found that states have adopted varied program designs, reflecting their particular goals and circumstances. Nationally, we estimate that 300,000 people were covered under HIFA demonstrations as of December 2005. Although this is a sizable number, coverage has fallen far short of the 820,000 expected. [Health Affairs 25 (2006): w204-w216 (published online 25 April 2006; 10.1377/hlthaff.25.w204)]
[Health Affairs recent issues]
6:30:54 AM    comment []

[Web Exclusives] TennCare--A Failure Of Politics, Not Policy: A Conversation With Gordon Bonnyman.

Gordon Bonnyman is the indefatigable advocate who has spent the past dozen years both championing and challenging TennCare, Tennessee's controversial Medicaid program. As the executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, Bonnyman has advocated for TennCare during three gubernatorial administrations; this advocacy reached new levels of intensity in 2005, when Gov. Phil Bredesen introduced major cutbacks to the program. Bonnyman's prominent role in shaping TennCare and, according to some, stymieing changes to it publicly pitted him against Governor Bredesen in the battle to "save" TennCare. [Health Affairs 25 (2006): w217-w225 (published online 25 April 2006; 10.1377/hlthaff.25.w217)]
[Health Affairs recent issues]
6:30:16 AM    comment []

[Health Tracking] The Cost Of Medicaid Annuities.
Medicaid annuities are annuities that long-term care recipients use to shelter assets, thereby qualifying them early for Medicaid eligibility. As such, these annuities have the potential to increase Medicaid costs. This study estimates the cost of annuities to the Medicaid program. From a sample of Medicaid applications in five states, we found the rate at which annuities were used and simulated their cost to Medicaid. We estimated that in 2004, Medicaid annuities cost Medicaid about $197 million, which represented a small proportion of Medicaid’s almost $50 billion cost for nursing home care.
[Health Affairs recent issues]
6:29:48 AM    comment []