How Cash & Counseling Affects Informal Caregivers: Findings from Arkansas, Florida and New Jersey

Publication Date:

Publisher: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Author(s): Leslie. Foster; Randall. Brown; Barbara. Phillips; Barbara.L. Carlson

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

The Cash and Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation, implemented in Arkansas, Florida, and New Jersey, gave eligible Medicaid beneficiaries the opportunity to receive a monthly allowance to purchase supportive services of their choosing. Adult Medicaid beneficiaries who have disabilities and live at home rely mostly on unpaid family members and other informal caregivers for personal care. This report estimates the effects of Cash & Counseling on the caregivers who were providing the most unpaid assistance to adult beneficiaries, when those beneficiaries volunteered to participate in the demonstration and completed a baseline interview. The caregivers in this analysis—identified by beneficiaries as their primary informal caregiver at baseline—were interviewed about 10 months later.