Policy Brief Says AHCA Threatens the Growth of HCBS

The Community Living Policy Center within the University of California, San Francisco, has released a policy brief titled, “The Potential Impact of the American Health Care Act on Home and Community-Based Services Spending.” The brief looks the impact that the American Health Care Act’s (AHCA’s) proposal to convert the Medicaid system to per capita caps would have on spending for home and community based services (HCBS). The report examines state expenditures from 2001 through 2013 and compares the grown in spending during those years to the limitations that would have been in place under the caps proposed by the AHCA. The report finds that most states would likely have limited HCBS growth, reducing ins creases in per-enrollee spending to well below the increases that actually occurred. The brief estimates that the imposition of the caps would have ultimately resulted in reductions ranging between 19% and 28%, with an average 13% reduction specifically for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.