How much can technology help the frail elderly live independently? The promise of high-tech assistive devices and monitoring systems has attracted the attention of many long-term care families, desperate for new ways to keep an eye on mom. Not surprisingly, some big companies, including GE and Cisco, as well as smaller start-ups and university research labs, are increasingly interested as well. [...]
The House Energy & Commerce Committee has added Senator Ted Kennedy's national long-term care insurance proposal (the CLASS Act) to its version of health reform legislation. This is another remarkable step forward for the measure although, as I've noted before, the fate of this and other long-term care provisions won't be decided until Congress writes a final health care bill sometime this [...]
A new poll suggests the public would like to see long-term care reform included in any congressional remake of the health system. While many respondents were concerned about their ability to pay for care, their biggest interest was in better coverage for home and community supports that could keep them out of nursing homes. The survey, done by Lake Research Partners for [...]
For those interested in long-term care, the House Democrats' consensus health reform bill is pretty disappointing. Unlike the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee version, it includes no proposal for national long-term care insurance. And it largely ignores efforts to expand access to home care for those on Medicaid, who now often can only get care in nursing facilities, or to better coordinate care [...]
The Obama Administration has given a boost to Senator Ted Kennedy's national long-term care insurance program, the CLASS Act. In a July 6 letter to Kennedy, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius said President Obama believes "it is appropriate to include the CLASS Act as part of health reform." Obama co-sponsored the bill when he was in the Senate, but [...]
I've begun writing a regular, bi-weekly column for Kaiser Health News, a new independent news service. This morning's column looks at how much CLASS Act premiums would cost. The bottom line; Monthly payments for a national long-term care insurance policy would be more than its backers hope, but would still be affordable for many middle-class buyers.