Consumer Control Over Personal Care: The Medicaid Cash and Counseling Evaluation

Mathematica evaluated the Cash and Counseling demonstration in three states—Arkansas, Florida, and New Jersey. Medicaid enrollees who were frail or had disabilities received a monthly cash allowance to purchase personal assistance services and related goods. In one state, children were also included. Participants received counseling to help plan their purchases. The program sought to expand consumers’ control over their personal care, thereby increasing their satisfaction and meeting their needs for care, without increasing public costs. The evaluation described program implementation and estimated the intervention's impacts on consumers, their caregivers, and public costs in each state, based on a random assignment design.

Check out the list of publications from the evaluation and a detailed description, including research questions, enrollment targets, and data sources.

Cash and Counseling is jointly funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Click here for the national program office for Cash and Counseling.

Related Links:
CashandCounseling.org
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Arkansas Independent Choices
New Jersey State Office on Disability Services
Florida Consumer-Directed Care Project
National Council on the Aging

Back to Top