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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| State Rep. Phyllis Mundy
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House committee OKs bill to modernize Pa.'s elderly caregiver program
HARRISBURG, Feb. 9 – A version of state Rep. Phyllis Mundy's legislation that would allow area agencies on aging to fully use state funding that helps residents caring for an older person at home was unanimously voted out of the House Aging and Older Adult Service Committee today.
"For the past several years, I have pushed legislation to recognize today's informal, unpaid caregivers are not limited to family members or family members who live in the same household," Mundy said. "This legislation is long overdue."
Mundy, the former chairman of the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee, introduced a bill in the 2007-08 and 2009-10 legislative sessions to modernize Pennsylvania's Family Caregiver Support Program, and both times the House unanimously passed it. The bill stalled in the Senate both times. She recently reintroduced the legislation as House Bill 224.
The program currently reimburses eligible family members for the costs associated with caring for an older person provided they live in the same household. The program also provides grants for home modifications and buying assistive devices. However, its rules bar non-relatives or relatives living outside the senior's home from accessing the program. That has resulted in many local area agencies on aging being forced to turn back state funding despite having a waiting list for the program.
"Our seniors want to remain at home as long as possible, and this legislation would help them do that by providing caregivers the support they need and deserve," Mundy said. "The money is already set aside in the state budget, so there's no additional cost."
The bills would make Pennsylvania's program mirror rules of the federal Family Caregiver Support Program, which does not require that the caregiver and care recipient be related or live together. The bills also would provide the first rate adjustment to reimbursement and grant limits. Pennsylvania's caregiver support program was created in 1990. The federal program was created in 2000 and modeled largely after Pennsylvania's program.
Mundy added that the change would help the state economically because it is far less costly for a person to remain at home than live in a nursing home or assisted living facility. Mundy, the chairman of the House Finance Committee, noted that the economic value of the Commonwealth's caregivers has been estimated at $15 billion a year.
Mundy's legislation has been supported by the Pennsylvania Association of Area Agencies on Aging, the Greater Pennsylvania and Delaware Valley chapters of the Alzheimer's Association and AARP Pennsylvania, among other organizations.
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