Medicaid Home And Community-Based Services Waivers
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Home and Community-Based Services waivers (HCBS waivers) or Section 1915(c) waivers, 42 U.S.C. Ch. 7, § 1396n §§ 1915(c), are a type of
Medicaid waiver Medicaid Waiver programs help provide services to people who would otherwise be in an institution, nursing home, or hospital to receive long-term care Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medic ...
. HCBS waivers expand the types of settings in which people can receive comprehensive long-term care under Medicaid. Prior to the creation of HCBS waivers, comprehensive long-term care was available through Medicaid only in institutional settings. Under an HCBS waiver, states can use Medicaid funds to provide a broad array of non-medical services (excluding room and board) not otherwise covered by Medicaid, if those services allow recipients to receive care in community and residential settings as an alternative to institutionalization.


History

Section 1915(c) was an amendment to the
Social Security Act The Social Security Act of 1935 is a law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law was pa ...
created as a part of the
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 is the federal budget enacted by the 97th United States Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The bill established federal expenditures for fiscal year 1982, which ran from 1 O ...
. Adoption of HCBS waivers by states was initially slow, but Congress has enacted a series of reforms since 1981 to make the use of HCBS waivers less prohibitive. The Supreme Court case, '' Olmstead v. L.C.'' (1999), found unnecessary institutionalization to be a violation of the civil right established by the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 19 ...
that service be provided in the
least restrictive environment In the U.S. the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a special education law that mandates regulation for students with disabilities to protect their rights as students and the rights of their parents. The IDEA requires that all s ...
. ''Olmstead'' allowed that states could be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act if they could demonstrate that they had a comprehensive, working plan to move people with disabilities into less restrictive settings. This provision along with
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer M ...
guidance on ''Olmstead'' compliance led to rapid adoption by the states of the HCBS waiver.


See also

*
Medicaid waiver Medicaid Waiver programs help provide services to people who would otherwise be in an institution, nursing home, or hospital to receive long-term care Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medic ...
* Olmstead v. L.C. *
Least restrictive environment In the U.S. the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a special education law that mandates regulation for students with disabilities to protect their rights as students and the rights of their parents. The IDEA requires that all s ...
*
Florida Medicaid waiver Florida has several Medicaid Waiver Programs. Medicaid Waiver Programs allow recipients to 'waive' institutionalization and instead choose to direct services to assist them to live in the community. Waiver program services may offer additional su ...
* North Carolina's 1915(b)(c) Waiver Program *
Utah’s HCBS ID/RC Waiver The Utah HCBS waiver program is a state-run program that serves individuals in Utah with intellectual disabilities or related conditions (ID/RC). HCBS stands for Home and Community-Based Services. Started in 1986 the Utah HCBS waiver program ...


References


Bibliography

* * * {{cite book , last1=Smith , first1=David G. , last2=Moore , first2=Judith D. , date=2015 , edition=Second , title=Medicaid Politics and Policy , location=New Brunswick, N.J. , publisher=Transaction Publishers , isbn=978-1-4128-5674-4


External links


HCBS Advocacy
– Information for advocates about the new home and community-based services rules Disability law in the United States Mental health law in the United States Federal assistance in the United States Medicare and Medicaid (United States) 1981 in law