Long-Term Care Bills Pass with AARP Arkansas Support
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2007-04-17 13:19:24.242530-04:00
AARP Arkansas' volunteers and staff are celebrating impressive gains in the quality of long-term care in the state, as a result of their successful advocacy efforts during the 2007 General Assembly.
Tops on the list of four new laws is Act 516, AARP's Choices in Care bill. It establishes the Options Counseling in Long-Term Care Program to mandate that individuals and their families who are entering nursing homes and assisted living facilities be offered counseling to inform them of all the long-term care services available to them, and of the factors to consider when choosing the best long-term care services and providers for them. Representative Sandra Prater of Jacksonville was the lead sponsor of the legislation.
"Long term care is expensive and can cost up to $50,000 per year," said Maria Reynolds-Diaz, AARP state director. "Few of us would even spend $40,000 or $50,000 on a luxury car or truck, without first doing a great deal of research. Because of this new law, more Arkansans will have access to the information needed to help choose a nursing home, an assisted living facility or home health care services for our fragile parents, other relatives and friends.
Two other bills that promote nursing home quality were passed with AARP's support and signed into law as Acts 192 and 193.
Act 193 provides additional funding for new nursing homes which adopt and operate according to the principles for high quality elder care established by the Eden Alternative. Act 192 permits those nursing homes to modify staffing requirements. Rep. Johnnie Key of Mountain Home was the lead sponsor of these bills as well as another one which is now Act 99.
Act 99 encourages the purchase of long-term care insurance policies by allowing all payments made for long-term care insurance coverage for a person to be subtracted from the assets considered by the state when it determines that person's Medicaid eligibility. It also establishes a process for pre-certifying long-term care policies and requires pre-certified policies to cover home- and community-based care.
In an early 2006 study by AARP, more than three-quarters of AARP members surveyed said they would prefer to receive long-term care in their own homes or in home-like settings, such as an assisted living facility. Only 4% reported that they would prefer to receive care in a nursing home.
Ninety-one percent of AARP members in Arkansas who were contacted strongly support using Medicaid long-term care funds, now used mostly for nursing home care, for long-term care services to help people stay in their homes and communities.
In a December 2006 study by AARP, 86% of the Arkansans surveyed said it was extremely or very important to be able to get complete, reliable and unbiased information before choosing long-term care services in their community.
The legislation AARP Arkansas successfully supported in the 2007 General Assembly directly addresses concerns about getting high quality long-term care services that were expressed by AARP members and Arkansans in general.
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