HHS Partners with Ohio and Pennsylvania to Raise Awareness about Long-Term Care Planning

Two new states, Ohio and Pennsylvania, will join the federal Own Your Future campaign created to increase the public's awareness about the importance of long-term care (LTC) planning. 

The "Own Your Future" initiative, administered by HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Administration on Aging (AoA), and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), is designed to help Americans take an active role in planning ahead for their future long-term care needs. 

The "Own Your Future" initiative is part of an ongoing effort to increase awareness about what public long term-care programs actually pay for, the risks of needing long-term care services, and how people can prepare to pay for their long-term care.  To date, over 11 million letters signed by governors in 16 states have been mailed to households with individuals in the target audience and from those letters more than 550,000 Long-Term Care Planning Kits have been mailed.

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AoA Announces Participation of Community Aging Service Providers in Medicare Senior Risk Reduction Demonstration

As part of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt's focus on prevention, Assistant Secretary for Aging Josefina G. Carbonell has announced participation in a demonstration program designed to help seniors stay healthy. Nine Aging and Disability Resource Center programs and an Older Americans Act Information and Referral program will participate in the Medicare Senior Risk Reduction Demonstration. 

The CMS Medicare Senior Risk Reduction Demonstration is designed to evaluate whether health promotion and disease prevention programs currently offered by national private insurers and employers can be delivered by the Medicare program to encourage beneficiaries to engage in healthy lifestyles and practices that can help them maintain and improve their health and reduce the need for health care services for preventable illnesses, injuries, or complications.  For more information about the Senior Risk Reduction Demonstration and the AoA programs participating, please visit:  http://www.aoa.gov/press/pr/2007/December/12_19_07.asp