DISABILITY
ISSUES
INFORMATION
FOR
JOURNALISTS
ABOUT
THE CENTER
NJ enrollees like "cash and counseling," says report
Note to readers: links to news articles may not work after a few weeks, as news media remove current stories to their archives. The link may take you to the archives section, where, for a fee, you can view the article.
Dec. 10, 2002 -- Experiences of 240 of the first clients in New Jersey's Cash and Counseling Demonstration program are the subject of a new report available from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. The report, currently available only in the largely-inaccessible PDF format, is available online at http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/conearlyexp.pdf (titled "Cash and Counseling: Consumers' Early Experiences in New Jersey. Part II: Uses of Cash and Satisfaction at Nine Months -- Interim Memo").
New Jersey's Cash and Counseling program, one of several demonstration programs operating in the nation, is designed to provide cash grants to disabled enrollees to purchase their own personal assistance services. (A booklet about the program designed for its enrollees can be found at http://www.hhp.umd.edu/AGING/CCDemo/ccbook/) The demonstration programs are being funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in an effort to "test... the use of a cash benefit to enhance Medicaid consumers' ability to design PAS services that best meet their needs (while maintaining overall program budget neutrality)." More about Cash and Counseling demonstration can be found at http://www.hhp.umd.edu/AGING/CCDemo/overview.html
A telephone survey conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. nine months after New Jersey Medicaid recipients applied to the program found that 70 percent were satisfied with it. Most enrollees hired family members to serve as attendants. The biggest complaint was over the fact that in some cases the monthly cash grant was delayed due to bureaucratic snafus.
Evaluations of the nation's other demonstration Cash and Counseling programs, also from Mathematica and also in PDF format, are online at http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/3rdLevel/cashcounselinghot.htm
For more on the general topic of consumer-directed long-term services, visit the reports website of The Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy (DALTCP) , part of the office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation within the US Dept. of health & Human Services .(DALTCP) is responsible for the development, coordination, analysis, research and evaluation of HHS policies and programs which support the independence, health and long-term care of persons with disabilities--children, working age adults, and older persons. The Office is also responsible for policy coordination and research to promote the economic and social well-being of the elderly. A good list of reports is available at http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/01cfpk3.htm