Lifespan Respite Care Act of 2005
On December 21, 2006, President Bush signed into law the Lifespan Respite Care Act of 2005, which was effective January 1, 2007. This new law was sponsored by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Representative Mike Ferguson (R-NJ), and is designed to take some of the burden off of the millions of Americans who provide unpaid care in their own homes to either an elderly family member or a family member with special needs. The act authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants totaling nearly $300 million to state agencies over the next five years, which will in turn give aid to families hiring temporary help to relieve the primary caregivers. The grants provide respite care regardless of age, income level, and severity of the condition. States will compete for grants through an application process, which is designed to help the Secretary give priority to those state agencies that show the greatest likelihood of establishing or improving upon lifespan respite care statewide. The money given to states is to be used not only for providing respite care services for family caregivers, but also to train and recruit respite care workers and volunteers, and to provide information to caregivers about available respite and support services.
In addition to providing assistance to caregivers throughout the United States, the Lifespan Respite Care Act of 2005 is also designed to encourage home care as a way of saving money in other programs, especially Medicaid, for the high cost of nursing homes. If respite care could delay every senior’s institutionalization by only as little as one month, it could save the government as much as $1.12 billion per year according to a 12/23/06 Wall Street Journal article.
While this new legislation is a step in the right direction, the $300 million over a five year span is small in comparison to the approximate $300 billion per year spent by American families on caregiving expenses. That’s not even to mention the non-monetary costs of the additional physical, psychological, and emotional stress put on caregivers. A long-term care insurance policy would be able to provide much more help with 8 to 10 hour shifts per day; however, for those families who either can’t afford such a policy or do not qualify for this type of coverage, the new legislation gives some much needed aid to fall back on.
To read the new law, click here.