U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced on Aug. 12 that she and a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues have introduced the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Access Act, legislation designed to expand access to home- and community-based care for older adults and people with disabilities.
The bill would make HCBS a mandatory Medicaid benefit, reduce or eliminate state waiver waiting lists, increase federal funding to expand capacity, and provide grants and support to strengthen the direct care workforce and family caregivers. Senator Gillibrand framed the proposal as a way to ensure older adults and people with disabilities can choose to receive care in their communities rather than being forced into institutional settings.
Key provisions (summary)
- Make HCBS a mandatory Medicaid benefit to guarantee access to home- and community-based care.
- Phase out burdensome HCBS waiver programs and work to eliminate waiting lists.
- Increase federal Medicaid funding and provide grants to states to expand HCBS capacity.
- Strengthen the direct care workforce by improving job quality, stability, and wages.
- Expand training and support for family caregivers and improve oversight and quality assurance for HCBS.
Senator Gillibrand said the bill would help ensure New York seniors and people with disabilities can live “comfortably in the communities of their choice,” and emphasized her role on the Senate Aging Committee in pushing to remove barriers to HCBS.
The bill is sponsored by Gillibrand and co-sponsored by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
The legislative push is backed by numerous advocacy and labor groups, including SEIU, AFSCME, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Autism Speaks, Easterseals, Justice in Aging, PHI, The Arc of the United States, National Alliance for Caregiving, and others.
Full bill text was released by Gillibrand’s office and is available from the senator’s website.
