The growth of the elderly population, combined with rising expenditures for institutional long-term care services, has generated interest in strengthening community-based services for the sick and disabled and in altering the way in which these services are organized and financed. Studies have shown that community-based health and social services can be effective in reducing institutionalization and improving longevity and patient satisfaction. However, the overall costs associated with community-based long-term care remain unknown, as does the number of persons potentially in need of such services. In some cases, costs for such care may exceed amounts spent for the equivalent level of institutional care.,Richard Price, Specialist in Social Legislation, and Carol O'Shaughnessy, Specialist in Social Legislation, Education and Public Welfare Division.,CRS 84-733 EPW,"August 17, 1984.",SuDoc# LC 14. 18/3

Concern has been expressed about the impact various Medicaid rules have on married couples when one member of the couple requires long-term nursing home care and the other spouse remains in the community. A number of bills have been introduced in the 100th Congress to address the impoverishment an elderly spouse in the community may experience as a result of Medicaid rules, when the other spouse becomes eligible for Medicaid as a nursing home patient. This paper compares the provisions of three so-called "spousal impoverishment" bills.,Richard J. Price, Specialist in Social Legislation, Education and Public Welfare Division,CRS 87-399,"May 1, 1987.",SuDoc# 14. 18/3