The EMPOWER Care Act (S. 548/HR 1342) is a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate by Senators Portman (R-OH) and Cantwell (D-WA) and in the House by Representatives Dingell (D-MI) and Guthrie (R-KY) to extend and improve the Money Follows the Person (MFP) Program through 2023. Although this widely adopted and successful program expired in 2016, it was extended through a short-term funding bill in January 2019. This short-term funding to help people transition is scheduled to end in September 2019 but funds are likely to run out even sooner. The EMPOWER Care Act would reauthorize the MFP program through 2023. Without the additional funding provided by the EMPOWER Care Act, states in the MFP program will no longer be able to transition new individuals from institutions back to the community care setting of their choice. It would though improve the current MFP Program by enhancing reporting and accountability by reducing a required nursing home stay from 90 days to 60 days before being eligible for a transition.  

Please call your Senators and Representatives and ask them to cosponsor the EMPOWER Care Act to #FUNDMFP.

BACKGROUND

First authorized by President Bush in 2005 with strong bipartisan support, the Money Follows the Person (MFP) program is a Medicaid program that has helped more than 88,000 people with disabilities and seniors move from nursing homes and other institutions into the community, and has helped 44 states improve access to home and community-basedservices (HCBS). The success of the MFP program has been widely recognized and documented as effectively moving individuals from institutional to community-based care settings, reducing waiting lists for HCBS services, and savingstatesmoney (See https://medicaid.publicrep.org/empower-care-act/ for more details).

HOW TO HELP

You can help support the passage of the EMPOWER Care Act by calling the main Capitol line at (202) 224-3121 (voice) or (202) 224-3091 (TTY) and by filling out the form to the right for your Representative and Senators. They must hear that their constituents strongly support the Money Follows the Person Program and need them to cosponsor the EMPOWER Care Act in this Congress to #FUNDMFP.

Thank you for your advocacy efforts! 

The NDSC Policy & Advocacy Team

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