Join us to explore modernizing Medicaid to enable people who need long-term services and supports (LTSS) to live where they choose, including their own homes and communities.  This discussion comes at a time of growing bipartisan support for changing Medicaid's requirement to fund LTSS in nursing homes while funding home and community-based services (HCBS) on a limited and optional basis.  In addition to restricting choice, the half-century old provision makes it difficult to meet a growing demand for LTSS in a cost-effective way.

The recent federal Commission on Long-Term Care called for building a system that promotes "services for persons with functional limitations in the least restrictive setting appropriate to their needs."  A major step toward accomplishing this goal would be to reform Medicaid to put coverage for HCBS on par with coverage for nursing homes.  Please join the AARP Public Policy Institute for a discussion of policy options and lessons learned in the states. Speakers and panelists include:

G. Lawrence Atkins, Long-Term Care Commission Staff Director
President, National Academy of Social Insurance

Josefina Carbonell, Senior Vice President for Long-Term Care and Nutrition, Independent Living Systems; Former Assistant Secretary for Aging

Henry Claypool, Executive Vice President, American Association of People with Disabilities
Former Director, HHS Office of Disability

Stephen Kaye, Professor, Institute for Health & Aging, University of California, San Francisco

Charles Milligan, Deputy Secretary, Health Care Financing, Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene

Susan Reinhard, AARP Senior Vice President; Director, AARP Public Policy Institute

Jami Snyder, Operations Administrator, Acute and Long-Term Care, AZ Health Care Cost Containment System

Debra Whitman, AARP Executive Vice President, Policy, Strategy, and International Affairs

For more information, contact: Janett Gasaway jgasaway@aarp.org