The compromise health reform plan proposed today by President Obama includes many of the key long-term care provisions that were included in the earlier House and Senate bills. The CLASS Act--the national long-term care insurance program--along with federal incentives to encourage states to expand their home and community based care programs under Medicaid, and improved care coordination for those receiving both Medicare and Medicaid [...]
While the United States struggles to figure out how it is going to pay for long-term care, it is important for policymakers, care providers, and those of us caring for our parents to see how other countries do it. The Commonwealth Fund has just published my new paper, LongTerm Care Financing Reform: Lessons from the U.S. and Abroad that looks at where the [...]
If you think the U.S. is struggling over how to finance long-term care, just take a look at what's happening in the U.K. There, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who faces an uphill battle for reelection this spring, has proposed to expand free long-term care to 280,000 of the most needy. His proposal has not only come under fire from the opposition conservatives, but also from many in [...]
Today, The Washington Post and Kaiser Health News jointly published an article I wrote on aging in place villages--an important element in the effort to help seniors remain in their communities. There are close to 50 villages now operating around the country, and at least 600 communities interested enough to send representatives to workshops held over the past year by the non-profit community development group NCB Capital [...]
Those of us who have been caring for our parents know very well the physical toll it takes. I helped care for my dad for 18 months. And after he died, one of the first things I did was make an appointment to see my own doctor. I had never felt so exhausted and worn out in my life. Now, an important new study describes the health effects [...]