CMS Proposes Cash Allowance To Let Beneficiaries Hire Personal Care Workers

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Caregivers / Homecare
Article Date: 16 Jan 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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CMS on Monday announced it will accept public comment on a proposal to provide some Medicaid beneficiaries with a cash allowance to hire personal care workers, CQ HealthBeat reports. If their home states elect to adopt a self-directed personal assistance services option in their state plan, beneficiaries would be able to hire and train their own qualified caregiver -- who could be a family member -- to assist with daily activities but not direct medical care.

The proposed regulation would implement a provision from the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act that lets states choose to provide care in ways that previously required a waiver from CMS. States must have an existing personal care services benefit or be operating a home- or community-based service waiver program before allowing Medicaid beneficiaries to be eligible for the cash allowance.

Acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems said, "As health care is not simply an economic transition, this proposal represents a fundamental shift that restores a person's ability to improve their overall health by taking greater control of his or her own decisions."

Notice of the proposed rule will appear in the Jan. 18 Federal Register, and the 30-day comment period ends Feb. 19 (CQ HealthBeat, 1/14).

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