Alzheimer's HBCS Georgia FY 2020 Funding Request

Request for $10 Million for Non-Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Funding

Staying as independent as possible for as long as possible is a top goal of Georgia’s older population. Non-Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) are designed to help achieve that independence when older adults want to remain in their homes. They may need help preparing meals, assistance with personal living tasks such as bathing, grocery shopping and respite relief for their caregivers. By comparison, these services cost the state less than one-tenth the cost of a Medicaid nursing home bed and 43 percent of the cost of the Community Care Services Program (a Medicaid program designed to help frail older adults remain living in their own homes or communities and to receive services in those locations as an alternative to nursing homes):

HCBS $1898

Medicaid Community Care Services Program $4447

Medicaid Nursing Home Bed $21,250

Unfortunately the Waiting Lists for HCBS are long and all too often seniors and their caregivers run out of options and turn to solutions that they do not want and which cost taxpayers far more. Currently, there are 7,000 Georgians age 60+ on the Wait List…and that list is constantly growing. Many of those individuals on Wait Lists are Georgians living with Alzheimer’s or other dementias.I was one of these caregivers for my mother. Unfortunately while on the waiting list and never receiving these services she required skilled nursing care and moved to a nursing facility.

While 83 percent of the help provided to older adults comes from family members, friends and other unpaid caregivers, nearly half of all caregivers who provide help to older adults do so for someone with Alzheimer's or another dementia. Home and community based services allow people with dementia to remain in their homes while providing family caregivers much needed support.
60% of individuals living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia live at home—and, in the early stage of the disease, some live alone.

In 2017 in Georgia, 527,000 Georgians were caregivers for a loved one with Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer's takes a devastating toll on caregivers—in Georgia that toll translates into higher health costs of caregivers at $304,000,000 in 2017.

Alzheimer's caregivers face tremendous challenges regarding the availability and affordability of HCBS. Without these supports, caregivers are often forced to move their loved one to more costly institutional care earlier than they planned. Nationally, the use of respite by dementia caregivers has increased substantially in recent years from 13% in 1999 to 27% in 2015.

A $10 million appropriation could take over 5,100 people off of the wait list for much-needed in-home care services and delay or avoid over $110 million in nursing home bed expenses.

Please join me in asking Sen. Jen Jordan and Rep Michael Smith to support his critical funding.

Jim Williams
Smyrna Georgia
Volunteer Legislative Ambassador and State Champion
Alzheimer's Association Georgia Chapter