The Honorable Robert Casey
393 Russell Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Debbie Dingell
116 Cannon House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC20515

The Honorable Jamaal Bowman
1605 Longworth House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senator Casey and Representatives Dingell and Bowman:

On behalf of the millions of members and supporters of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, I write to endorse bill the “HCBS Access Act” (H.R. 1493, S. 762). The National Committee commends you for introducing this bill to make home and community-based services (HCBS) a mandatory benefit within Medicaid, and to ensure eligible older adults and people with disabilities have the option to choose between home care and institutional care. We also commend Senators Maggie Hassan, Sherrod Brown and Tim Kaine for their co-leadership on this legislation.

As introduced, the HCBS Access Act is designed to ensure eligible older adults and people with disabilities have a real choice of care and support options between home care and institutional care. The bill would, over time, eliminate HCBS waiting lists and the need for states to repeatedly apply for HCBS waivers. Specifically, it would:

  • Increase Medicaid funding for home and community-based services;
  • Provide grant funding for states to expand their capacity to meet the needs of people who prefer HCBS;
  • Make steps to improve the stability, availability, and quality of direct care providers to help address the decades-long workforce shortage crisis;
  • Provide states with resources so that caregiving workers — who are disproportionately women of color — have stable, quality jobs and a living wage;
  • Provide training and support for family caregivers; and
  • Create better evaluation measures to assess the quality of HCBS being provided.

The National Committee agrees with the bill’s sponsors and cosponsors that expanded HCBS is a smart economic investment, and that it would serve to significantly strengthen the caregiving workforce, including higher wages for home care providers, and provide additional respite opportunities for family caregivers.

For these reasons, the National Committee proudly endorses the HCBS Access Act. This legislation represents a bold step on behalf of seniors and all Americans, and we thank all of you for your leadership on this key policy front.  We look forward to working with you to enact this important legislation.

Sincerely,

Max Richtman
President and CEO