Published November 2004

Retirement Briefs

EdCC offers fall classes for seniors
Edmonds Community College’s Creative Retirement Institute offers noncredit, college-level classes for people 50 years of age and older. Registration is now under way for fall classes, including:

• “Bound for America: A Short History of Immigration,” 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays, Nov. 3-17; taught by Carol McRae, a Snohomish County District Court judge; $30.
• “Meteorology Overview,” 10 a.m. to noon Thursdays, Nov. 4, 18 and Dec. 2; a historical overview of weather phenomena and techniques for its observation and prediction taught by instructors at the University of Washington’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences; $30.
• “Modern Nutrition,” 10 a.m. to noon Tuesdays, Nov. 16-Dec. 7; includes information on micro and macro nutrients and their effect on life span; taught by Harvey Carroll, who holds a doctorate in physical chemistry from Cornell University and is on the editorial review board for Alternative Medicine Review; $40.
• “The Talmud: Written Jewish Oral Torah Tradition,” 9:30 to 11 a.m. Mondays, Nov. 8-Dec. 6; taught by Rabbi Charna Klein, a nondenominational rabbi from the Whidbey Island Jewish Community who specializes in adult education; $50.

For more information, call 425-640-1243 or go to http://cri.edcc.edu/.

Pilot program to give Medicaid
beneficiaries more choice
Washington state’s Department of Social and Health Services has received funding to launch Cash & Counseling, a program that gives Medicaid recipients more choice and control over the services they are eligible to receive.

In October, the state was one of 11 to receive a three-year, $250,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to expand the program, which began in 1995 and has been used in Arkansas, Florida and New Jersey.

Under the program Medicaid beneficiaries use their subsidized funding to hire their own caregivers or purchase items, such as chair lifts or touch lamps, that help them live independently. Each person’s budget is comparable to the value of services that he or she would have received from an agency, according to DSHS.

Consulting and bookkeeping services are available to help participants weigh their options and keep up with required paperwork, the agency said, adding that the program is entirely voluntary; if a participant wants to continue receiving personal care services through a Medicaid-contracted agency, that option remains available to them.

Over the next three years, as many as 400 older adults and adults with disabilities who receive Medicaid in Washington will be given the option to take part in the Cash & Counseling pilot program, DSHS said.

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