Changes Coming to Medicaid in 2022 attention to the continued shortfall of home and community-based services (HCBS) for senior citizens. A majority of states reported at least one permanent closure of a Medicaid HCBS provider between February 2020 and July 2021, leading to greater recognition of the issue and the subsequent inclusion of measures to address it in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in March 2021. In addition to an increase in the federal minimum wage and other COVID-mitigating responses, the Act temporarily boosted federal matching funding for Medicaid HCBS by approximately $11.4 billion. This matching rate increase ran between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022. Further progress onmajorHCBS support from the federal government has since stalled, with the Build Back Better Act – which proposed a permanent increase in the federal matching rate – having failed to pass the Senate. However, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services (CMS) have also issued an update to its HCBS settings “final rule”, making it clear that they will not abandon the Elderly individuals receive a range of benefits fromenrollment inMedicaid, which have only grownmore essential during the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we will be providing an overview of some of the most notable nationwide changes that have come or are coming to Medicaid in 2022, and the impact they are projected to have upon senior citizens in particular. Home and CommunityBased Services Perhaps the most obvious effect of the COVID-19 pandemic upon elder care institutions in the US came from the death and disruption it caused in long-term and elder care facilities. The public health crisis caused an exodus of facility staff – an issue that shows no sign of abating even with similar health functions seeing a rebound. The pandemic also brought fresh Covering the health insurance needs of one in five Americans and accounting for a fifth of the nation’s personal healthcare expenditure, Medicaid is crucial to the wellbeing of many in the US – and the elderly in particular. More than six in ten care home residents are covered by the health insurance program, allowing for much-needed assistance in accessing essential treatments. As such, alterations to Medicaid are necessarily a matter of elder law as well as public health. Written By Oliver Sullivan Lawyer Monthly 31 JUN 2022 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM
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