American Rescue Plan Supporting Older Adults in Significant Ways

American Rescue plan was signed into law by the Biden administration on March 11th to provide relief and support to all Americans who continue to deal with the pandemic and its after effects. Through the advocacy efforts of partnering organizations like the National Council on Aging, the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, Representatives and many others, this bill has carved out substantial funding for older Americans and the programs that support them. Here is a quick overview of how this bill will support Older Americans in the coming months.

Older American Act Funding
Currently over 11 million older adults rely on Older American Act funding to remain independent. This bill earmarks an additional $1.43 billion dollars into OAA supports such as nutrition programs, transportation, caregiver supports, elder abuse protections and healthy aging programs.

Medicaid Home Care Services
States will receive a 10% boost in federal contributions to support Medicaid and Home Care Services through March 31st 2022. That’s $12.7 billion dollars invested in low-income older adults and individuals with disabilities so they can receive care at home with a loved one rather than in a nursing home.

COVID Related
$20 billion has been set aside to improve vaccine administration and distribution as well as $50 billion for testing, contract tracing and manufacturing of personal protective equipment. Along with this is an additional $500 million for nursing home strike teams to help manage COVID outbreaks and $200 million to further support infection control in nursing homes.

Elder Justice
This law includes $276 million per year for the next 2 years to support programs that combat elder abuse, support elder justice research and innovation, enhance adult protection services and provide additional protections for residents of long-term care facilities.

Infrastructure and Transportation
$20 billion is earmarked for states, tribes and territories to help cover some of the unforeseen costs of the pandemic-one of which is broadband expansion, as well as improving subways and bus systems, which many older adults rely on.

These are just some of the highlights of the American Rescue Plan. To learn more about this bill go to NCOA’s article. The Biden Administration also released the American Jobs Plan proposal on March 31st. This is still taking shape but includes funding for HCBS organizations, wage increases for home care workers, workforce support and equity investments like broadband, affordable housing, transportation and more.