President's 2011 Budget Analysis

Medicaid. We welcome the $25 billion set aside to continue the stimulus funds for the federal Medicaid match.

Home and Community-Based Services. The president’s budget gives a healthy overall 7.4% increase to home and community-based services (HCBS) overall with a 13% increase for HCBS supportive services, a 31% increase in the National Family Caregiver Program, a 60% increase in Lifespan Respite program, and an investment of $102 million in nutrition and supportive service grants to help families care for aging relatives. Congregate meals were funded with a 1.1% increase, and Homebound Meals received an additional 1.3% in funding.

Housing. The budget for the U.S. Department Housing and Urban Development (HUD) supports the development of housing and services as a model for supporting seniors. We were very surprised, however, that HUD provided no funds for construction of senior housing, when the Section 202 program is a natural platform for services for older Americans.

Jobs. The major objective of the 2011 budget is to stimulate jobs, which we support.

AAHSA's work in the coming weeks will be to once again help the Administration and Congress connect the dots between the issues. As you may recall, our 2009-2010 Public Policy Priorities documented that development of a typical 100 unit multifamily apartment complex generates 116 jobs and $8,670,900 in income from all affected industries. We also know that the not-for-profit aging services sector could put 100,000 additional trained staff to work with better funding.