About 52 million Americans take care of a spouse, a child, a parent, or another loved one at some point over the course of the year. The Affordable Care Act has good news for these millions of informal caregivers: It includes several measures that will mean more support for them, as well as improved quality of care and more protections for the seniors and people with disabilities that they care for.

To help caregivers navigate these provisions, Families USA produced The Health Care Law: Good News for Caregivers. This piece outlines how the health care law will help consumers and caregivers make more informed decisions about long-term care options, build the long-term care workforce, and improve quality and safety for seniors and people with disabilities. The document also articulates how advocates can work with their states and Congressional delegations to build on the law’s foundation.

For a more in-depth explanation of all the programs that will be created or improved by the Affordable Care Act to help caregivers and their loved ones, please see the brief, The Affordable Care Act: Provisions that Will Help Caregivers.

Caregivers, consumers, long-term care workers, and advocates for seniors and people with disabilities should also be aware of two new Medicaid options that will be available to states beginning in October 2011: The Community First Choice Option and the State Balancing Incentive Payments Program. Families USA created these state-by-state fact sheets, Health Reform: New Opportunities for States To Invest in Home- and Community-Based Services, to help you encourage your state to consider these new opportunities to build home- and community-based services capacity in Medicaid.

What’s frightening is that if the Affordable Care Act were repealed, all of these new benefits and protections would go away. And, even if the law isn’t repealed, a lot of measures won’t move forward if Congress refuses to provide funds for the implementation of the health care law. So please use these materials to reach out to your communities to emphasize the importance of these provisions.