Choices will likely provide millions of dollars in competitive matching grants (1) to states, accompanied by rigorous program evaluation requiring states to track outcomes based on measures such as the promotion of older persons’ health and well-being, and reductions in the unnecessary and costly use of hospital and nursing home care. Though Choices is not yet funded as a line item in the federal budget, money for components of the program, including Aging and Disability Resource Centers (one-stop- shopping headquarters for aging services) and preventive health measures (e.g., self-management programs for chronic diseases; advice on preventing falls) has been appropriated from allocations for general Program Innovations. And while specific funding for Choices in federal fiscal year 2008 (Oct. 1, 2007 through Sept. 30, 2008) has not yet been confirmed, President George W. Bush has requested $28 million for the program for that fiscal year. The same amount was included in the Senate Appropriations’ Committee’s recommended funding level. The House of Representatives, however, included a lesser amount for Choices, $16.5 million. Historically, final funding levels tend to fall somewhere between the House and Senate’s recommended funding levels.
(1) Remarks of AoA Assistant Scretary for Aging Josefina Carbonell at the Sixth Annual New Freedom Initiatives Conference: www. aoa.gov/PRESS/speeches/2006/04_Apr/NFIJGCspeech41006web.pdf