USA Today published my op-ed column today on the need to include long-term care services and supports in health reform. It is nice to see that USA Today is so interested in this all important subject. All of us who are caring for our parents know why Congress should not miss this opportunity to address the needs of those receiving care as well as their families. [...]
If you are impoverished and unable to care for yourself, Medicaid is required by law to provide long-term services--in a nursing home. Although the frail elderly and younger people with disabilities overwhelmingly prefer to stay at home, states are under no obligation to offer care in the community. So here is an idea: Why doesn't Medicaid make home care the default option for assistance? [...]
Senate Health Committee Chair Ted Kennedy (D-MA) will include a major restructuring of long-term care services in his version of health reform, due out in late May. But getting those changes through Congress "is like pushing a rock uphill," says Connie Garner, Kennedy's top staffer on aging and disabilities issues. Garner spoke yesterday at a terrific conference sponsored by Health Affairs and [...]
In the debate over health reform, there has been an increasingly emotional argument over whether controlling medical cost growth will require rationing of care. The answer is: Of course it will. We ration care today, but do it in a profoundly irrational way. Reformers hope that health reform will allow us to do it in a more sensible manner, based on medical [...]