News From Washington, DC

AARP in Your State

November 2009

It takes a village — A new AARP research report on "villages"—nonprofit, neighborhood-based membership organizations that help people live comfortably in their own homes as they age—shows how five such villages are operating in the District.

Developed and led by volunteer board members in the community, such villages coordinate a wide range of services—from transportation to home repairs to in-home help with medical care and day-to-day needs—as well as social activities. The services are provided free by volunteers or through carefully selected vendors, often at discounted rates.

To learn more about the D.C. villages, visit www.aarp.org/dc.

October 2009

Avoid the gap — AARP DC is recruiting volunteers to help District residents avoid the "doughnut hole," a gap in Medicare Part D coverage that begins when a beneficiary's annual prescription drug costs exceed $2,700. The volunteers will learn how to use AARP's Doughnut Hole Calculator, an online tool that predicts if and when a beneficiary will reach the coverage gap and suggests less expensive alternatives to brand-name drugs, which could reduce costs enough to avoid the gap in coverage.

Any group of eight to 10 people with access to a computer and printer can invite a volunteer to help them use the calculator. For more information or to schedule a session, contact C.A. Page at cpage@aarp.org or 202-434-7703.

If you have a computer and want to learn how to use the calculator yourself, go to www.aarp.org/createthegood for a tool kit. Then try it out at doughnuthole.aarp.org.

September 2009

Help at home — AARP's Legal Counsel for the Elderly is working to help people qualify for and keep in-home services.

In order to be eligible for Medicaid services that can help District residents continue to live in their own homes as they age, an individual must have gross monthly income no greater than $2,022. Income rules vary for couples, depending on whether both receive services.

Legal Counsel for the Elderly is encouraging the D.C. Income Maintenance Administration to clarify whether people who do not meet the income criteria can qualify for the program by "spending down"—that is, by deducting medical expenses they have already incurred from their gross monthly income—and if so, to what level they need to spend down. D.C. and federal officials are reviewing the issue.

Call AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly at 202-434-2120 to request assistance in appealing a denial for in-home services based on income.

July-August 2009

Saving key programs — Even as the tough economy continued to put the squeeze on many state and local budgets, AARP DC successfully lobbied to restore funding to the Office on Aging to provide key services to the city's older residents.

Democratic Mayor Adrian Fenty's budget proposal had cut $1.5 million from the Office on Aging's budget. In April, AARP DC urged the D.C. Council's Committee on Aging and Community Affairs not to accept the cuts. The committee subsequently voted in May to restore about $900,000 to critical programs, including in-home care and community day care services, community-based support programs, and consumer information, assistance and outreach.

The full D.C. Council approved the budget in mid-May.

June 2009

Help for grandparents — After a successful three-year run, a pilot program that provides financial aid to grandparents raising grandchildren should soon become permanent.

The District's Grandparent Caregivers Pilot Program, which began in 2006, is set to expire at the end of September. AARP DC strongly supports a measure in the 2010 budget proposal by Mayor Adrian Fenty, D, that would make the program permanent. The D.C. Council was expected to approve the program, which provides a monthly subsidy to low-income grandparent caregivers and helps keep children out of the foster care system. There are 493 children in the program and another 190 on the waiting list.

To learn more, contact the Grandparent Caregivers Program office at 202-442-6009.