AARP Urges Lawmakers to Make Smart, Compassionate Policy Choices

AARP Massachusetts is urging lawmakers to support key initiatives that would greatly benefit older adults and their caregivers across the Commonwealth: paying spouses as caregivers, increasing and codifying the Personal Needs Allowances, and protecting vulnerable MassHealth Applicants. The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Healthcare Financing held a hearing on Tuesday, July 1, and took up these three issues.

First, AARP supports An Act Relative to Spouses as Caregivers, Senate Bill 914, which would allow spouses to be paid as caregivers under Medicaid. With over 780,000 Massachusetts residents providing unpaid care, often at great personal and financial cost, this bill offers a practical solution.

AARP sent a letter to the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Healthcare Financing urging legislators to favorably pass the bill.

“As Americans continue to live longer, family members are providing ever more complex care at home, often for longer periods of time,” said Jen Benson AARP Massachusetts State Director. “A family caregiver’s responsibility to provide that high level of care can make it difficult or even impossible for them to maintain another job.” Read the entire letter here.

Paying family members, especially spouses, as caregivers helps older adults remain at home, where they overwhelmingly prefer to be, while also providing modest income to caregivers and easing financial strain. It reduces reliance on costly institutional care, with self-directed care averaging just $1,774 per month compared to $6,175 for a semi-private nursing home room. Several other states have already expanded Medicaid rules to allow more family members to be paid caregivers, and Massachusetts should follow their lead.

AARP also urges the passage of An Act Increasing The Personal Needs Allowance For Long Term Care Residents H.1411 and S.887, as well as S.482 - An Act Increasing The Personal Care Allowance For Long Term Care Residents which would increase the Personal Needs Allowance (PNA) for Medicaid-eligible nursing home residents. AARP believes the current federal minimum of $30 per month is outdated and insufficient. Raising and codifying the PNA would help residents afford basic personal items and maintain their dignity and independence.

“AARP believes long term services and supports should emphasize the independence, dignity, autonomy, and privacy of individual consumers so they can maximize their physical and psychosocial potential, and the personal needs allowance helps to do so,” says Jen Benson in a letter to the Joint Committee on Healthcare Finances. Read the entire letter here

AARP also urged the committee to pass An Act To Protect MassHealth Applicants Facing Undue Hardship, H.1402/S.876. The legislation protects low-income seniors from losing nursing home care. The bills set clear criteria for MassHealth hardship waivers to prevent serious deprivation. You can read the letter AARP sent here.

AARP believes these bills reflect smart, compassionate policy choices that support aging in place, ease caregiver burdens, and improve quality of life for long-term care residents. AARP urges the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing to pass them without delay.