WASHINGTON — At the same time AAHomecare was on Capitol Hill last week, so was the AARP.
The behemoth consumer group said it was pushing members of Congress to get behind the "Empowered at Home Act" (H.R. 2688) sponsored by Reps. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., which would provide incentives for states to expand access to home and community-based services. AARP has also endorsed a bipartisan companion bill in the Senate sponsored by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
According to the group, more than one million Americans are living in nursing homes, but many would prefer to receive the services they need in their own homes, where they would be more comfortable and save the health care system money in the long run.
"Unfortunately, many Americans who want to be cared for at home can't because of a costly institutional bias in Medicaid, which pays for nearly two-thirds of the country's nursing home residents," an AARP statement said. "While state Medicaid programs are required to provide nursing home care, home and community-based services that are often less expensive are optional, leaving them first in line to be cut in a poor economy.
"AARP is working with members of Congress to end this bias that forces too many Americans out of their homes and costs us all too much."
Research by AARP's Public Policy Institute has found 89 percent of people 50-plus want to remain in their homes as they age. Greater access to home and community-based services, along with the help of properly supported family caregivers, could make this goal possible for hundreds of thousands of people who otherwise face life in costly nursing homes, according to the group.
AARP estimates that on average, Medicaid can care for three people with home and community-based services for the same cost as one person in a nursing home.
More information is available in an AARP fact sheet.