Nebraska

NEBRASKA’S SUPPORT NETWORK

• Family Caregiver Support Program

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight or weekend/camp respite options, capped at $1,000 per year; other services include assistive technology, care management, supplies, education and training, emergency response, home modification/repairs, homemaker/chore/personal care, information and assistance, support groups, and transportation.

Funded by: National Family Caregiver Support Program under Older Americans Act Title III E; administered by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and locally by area agencies on aging.

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers; care receivers must be age 60 or older. Care recipients must have impairment in two or more activities of daily living for respite/supplemental services and a diagnosis of dementia or related disorder and/or require supervision.

• Aged and Disabled Waiver

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight, and weekend/camp respite options, with no cap on services.

Funded by: Medicaid home and community-based services waiver; administered by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and locally by area agencies on aging, independent living centers or the local Medicaid agency.

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers or care receivers; care receivers must meet a nursing home level of care.

• Respite Subsidy Program Across the Lifespan

Offers: Adult day, in-home, overnight, or weekend/camp respite options, capped at $125 per month.

Funded by: Tobacco funds; administered by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services/Division of Aging Services and locally by the Medicaid agency.

Eligibility: No minimum age for caregivers or care receivers.

• Grandparent and Other Relative Caregiver Support Programs

Offers: Respite care and other support services designed to address the needs of grandparent and other relative caregivers of children. See www.gu.org/factsheets.asp for details on Nebraska programs.

Funded by: Older Americans Act Title III E, state general revenues, and other sources. The Family Caregiver Support Program is administered by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services/Division of Aging Services and locally by area agencies on aging.

Eligibility: Grandparent and other relative caregivers must be a minimum of age 60 and caring for a child age 18 or younger to receive services in the Family Caregiver Support Program.

CONSUMER DIRECTION

Consumer direction is a philosophy that accommodates people’s needs and preferences by offering them maximum choice and control over services they use. All three Nebraska caregiver support programs offer consumer direction.

• The Family Caregiver Support Program offers caregivers a menu of services from which to choose, vouchers or budgets for respite and/or supplemental services and a choice of respite providers, and family members may be paid to provide respite care.
• Aged and Disabled Waiver offers a voucher or budget for respite, a menu of services, a choice of respite providers, and families may be paid to provide respite services.
• Respite Subsidy Program Across the Lifespan offers caregivers a voucher for respite services, direct payments for the purchase of services and a choice of respite providers, and family members may be paid to provide respite services.

LEGISLATION

• NE L.B. 692 (Enacted 2001): Authorized and funded the Nebraska Lifespan Respite Services Program.
• NE L.B. 1062 (Enacted 2002): Required that funding appropriated for the Nebraska Health Care Cash Fund for FY 2001-02 and FY 2002-03 to be used to develop new respite programs or to implement such programs.

Sources: National Association of State Units on Aging, e-mail survey of State Family Caregiver Support Program contacts, Washington, D.C., June 2005; National Center on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren at Georgia State University, Research—Fact Sheets, Atlanta, Ga., 2005; Feinberg, Lynn Friss, et al., The State of the States in Family Caregiver Support: A 50-State Study, Washington, D.C.: Family Caregiver Alliance, National Center on Caregiving, 2004; Generations United, National Center on Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children, State Fact Sheets, Washington, D.C., October 2003; National Family Caregivers Association, Prevalence and Economic Value of Family Caregiving: State-by-State Analysis, Kensington, Md., 2000; U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000.

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