Statements On Introduced Bills And Joint Resolutions
Floor Speech
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By Ms. CANTWELL (for herself and Mr. Kohl):
S. 1256. A bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to establish financial incentives for States to expand the provision of long-term services and supports to Medicaid beneficiaries who do not reside in an institution, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Home and Community Balanced Incentives Act of 2009, together with my colleague from Wisconsin, Senator Kohl. As we in the Senate embark on reforming America's health care system, we cannot forget those who are dependent on daily care in order to survive: those in long-term care. Long-term care provides health care and daily living services to the elderly and disabled population, providing them with the ability to live happy, productive lives that age, illness and disability would otherwise prevent.
In 2007, the U.S. spent close to $109 billion on long term institutional care services under the Medicaid program; in my state of Washington it was approximately $2 billion. This amount represents more than 30 percent of all Medicaid payments, and is a number we can easily reduce. This legislation seeks to rebalance how states handle long term care by providing the tools they need to shift people out of expensive institutional care facilities and into home and community based care, where they can remain vibrant, active members of their community.
As Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz once said: There is no place like home. I could not agree more, which is why I believe in providing individuals and
families with the option to remain in their home, where studies have shown the overall quality of life is far superior to that in an institutional facility. Additionally, home and community based care is far more cost efficient than institutional care; by diverting just 5 percent of the long term care community away from institutional care and into home and community based services, we would see a net savings of more than $10 billion dollars over five years. In a time when rising health care spending plays such a pivotal role in the health of the overall economy, these savings represent a giant step towards reining in unnecessary health care spending.
The Home and Community Balanced Incentives Act would achieve the goal of transitioning to home and community based services by offering states modest increases to their federal medical assistance payment, FMAP, for home and community based services. States would have to use these increases to develop the programs needed to provide effective home and community based services. These services will reduce barriers that currently prohibit people from accessing home and community based services.
This bill succeeds in not only saving the Medicaid program a significant amount of money, but it will empower families to make informed decisions about their long term care needs.
Specifically, this bill would: improve case management to help people remain in their homes and communities and out of nursing homes; provide consumer empowerment helping to put individuals in charge of their care; provide a coordinated transition structure for those wishing to leave institutional care and return to their homes and communities; create a clear and well coordinated system for providing long term care information and support; improve methodology for determining eligibility and tracking provider data on services and quality outcomes.
Senator Kohl and I are excited to introduce this important legislation and to begin working with our colleagues on improving the long term care system in America.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record
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By Ms. CANTWELL (for herself and Ms. STABENOW):
S. 1257. A bill to amend the Social Security Act to build on the aging network to establish long-term services and supports through single-entry point systems, evidence based disease prevention and health promotion programs, and enhanced nursing home diversion programs; to the Committee on Finance.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce Project 2020: Building on the Promise of Home and Community-Based Services Act with my colleague from Michigan, Senator Stabenow. By the year 2020, almost 1 in 6 Americans will be over the age of 65 and the population of people over the age of 85, the fastest growing segment of the population, will double. Our current long term care financing structure is unsustainable as the population in need of such services rapidly increases. As such, we must turn our focus to reforming the long term care system to provide the best care available to this vulnerable population.
The average cost of a nursing home in this country is $70,000 a year, making this an unrealistic option for most Americans. In fact, most people who end up in a nursing home last just six months before they have spent so much they become poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. This situation is expensive for consumers, for states, and for the federal government. Fortunately, there is a clear answer. It costs Medicaid one third as much to provide someone with home and community based care as it would cost to care for them in a nursing home. In addition, most people want to stay in their own home or community whenever possible. An independent analysis conducted by the Lewin Group shows that Project 2020 would reach over 40 million Americans, while simultaneously reducing Medicare and Medicaid costs by more than $2.8 billion over 5 years.
Project 2020 addresses the urgent need to shift away from institutional care and towards home and community based services in three distinct ways: through enhanced nursing home diversion; by increasing the use of person-centered access to information; and by utilizing evidence-based disease and injury prevention. As I previously mentioned, increased nursing home diversion will not only provide significant savings to the Medicaid program, it will also allow families to stay together and let people be active members of their communities. Through the creation of a person-center access point to information, consumers, family members, and caregivers will be given the tools necessary to make well informed decisions about long term care. Finally, this bill will provide for programs that help consumers get proven education about avoiding preventable diseased and injuries, such as falls and malnutrition, which result in thousands of unnecessary hospitalizations every year.
As you can see, these three programs constitute a common-sense, multifaceted approach to improving the quality of life of individuals and their families, while providing a substantial amount of savings to the health care system.
I am pleased to introduce this important legislation along with my colleague Senator Stabenow and I look forward to working with the rest of my Senate colleagues to provide families with the long term care services and support they need.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record
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