Local Initiatives to Fund Services for Older Americans: Community Recognition of the Importance of Social Care

Abstract

Despite the growing proportion of older adults in the United States, federal and state funding for nonmedical supportive services remains limited. To meet increasing demand, some communities across the nation are exploring alternative funding sources for aging services. Although no systematic database exists to track such local programs, through an array of data sources including a national survey, telephone contacts, and a web review, we identified 15 states that are using local funding to support aging services. Communities are using a variety of local revenue streams, such as property tax levies, payroll, and sales taxes to provide services for older adults and/or their family or friend caregivers. There are considerable differences in community approaches including the following: amount of revenue generated, service eligibility criterion, type of services covered, and management infrastructure. Critical policy questions surrounding equity issues within and across states are raised as communities create these alternative funding mechanisms.

State Policies Concerning Disaster Preparedness for Home- and Community-Based Service Providers

“…These finding suggest that disaster preparedness could be developed in the future as a unique service for older adults trying to remain independent in their homes. The potential for this, however, is unclear, given the limited nature of OAA disaster preparedness requirements and the limits on funding (Thomas & Applebaum, 2015; Koumoutzis et al, 2020), evidenced by the large numbers of older adults on waiting lists for needed services (Schonfeld et al, 2021). However, it is important that more states emulate this approach of viewing disaster preparedness in the context of aging in place, particularly as efforts continue nationwide to meet older adults’ care needs through home- and community-based services as a way to reduce nursing home costs.…”

Recent innovations in long-term care coverage and financing: a rapid scoping review

“…30 31 Just over half of the reports addressed initiatives in China (n=13). [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] The remainder originated in the USA (n=3), [45][46][47] Singapore (n=2), 48 49 Taiwan (n=2) 50 51 and the Netherlands (n=1). 52 Three reports covered multiple countries.…”

If You Ask Them, They Will Support: A National Study of Local Initiatives Developed to Provide Social Care to Older Adults in the Community

“…State funded home care programs have been one solution to this challenge, but budgetary pressures have limited these efforts. One unique response from local communities has been to use alternative funding strategies, such as property tax levies, to provide social care to older residents (Koumoutzis et al, 2021). As such, this work describes the first national study of community initiatives developed to provide services to older adults through locally generated tax revenues and provides insight into their caregiver support efforts.…”