Washington, DC – The American Health Care Association (AHCA) and the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) praised the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today for its announcement that Ohio and Pennsylvania will join a new federal program, “Own Your Future,” and said the initiative compliments the objectives of a new plan introduced by the long term care profession last week to strengthen the nation’s long term and post-acute care delivery system.
“AHCA/NCAL is very pleased to see HHS step forward with this initiative in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and we strongly believe that every American should ‘Own Your Future’ when it comes to long term care planning and will promote that mindset on a national basis,” stated Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO. “The HHS initiative closely parallels and complements the major reform plan we just released that incentivizes Americans’ ability to plan for their long term care needs, and more broadly proposes a variety of ways to strengthen our nation’s long term and post-acute care delivery system.”
The "Own Your Future" program helps Americans take a more active role in planning for their future long term care needs. According to HHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) the program contains an educational component with information on ways to finance one's long term care and “addresses the fact there is a widespread misconception that Medicare pays for long term care, when, in fact, it only pays for very short term stays in skilled nursing facilities following discharge from a hospital," said acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems. "With the average monthly cost of a nursing home nearly $5,000, and stays that exceed several years, it's critical for people to start planning while they still have the ability to choose the long term care service and finance options that are best for them," he stated.
Ohio and Pennsylvania were chosen to participate by HHS because of the state resources available to further the "Own Your Future" campaign goals, the creativity of their activities, and their ability to identify and incorporate partners beyond the participating state agencies. One of Ohio's enhancements to the program is offering free, in-home long term care consultation, while Pennsylvania will establish an innovative, statewide long term living public education and outreach unit to provide information about the importance of long term care planning.
Yarwood noted that AHCA/NCAL, in conjunction with the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care and Avalere Health, LLC, released the 
Long Term and Post Acute Financing Reform proposal, available at www.ahca.org, that will substantially increase the ability of every citizen to plan and finance their future long term care needs, help infuse private resources into the entire spectrum of long term care services, ensure every beneficiary receives services in the most appropriate care setting to reflect their individual care need, and federalize the Medicaid system to minimize state-by-state and regional differences in the long term care benefit available to all Americans.
“Complementing government spending with private savings and investment must be a cornerstone for strengthening every citizen’s ability to take more control of his or her health and economic future, “concluded Yarwood. “We look forward to working with HHS, CMS and our affiliates in the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania to make this effort the success it deserves to be.”
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) represent nearly 11,000 non-profit and proprietary facilities dedicated to continuous improvement in the delivery of professional and compassionate care provided daily by millions of caring employees to 1.5 million of our nation's frail, elderly and disabled citizens who live in nursing facilities, assisted living residences, subacute centers and homes for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. For more information, please visit www.ahca.org or www.ncal.org.