A typical couple would have to save nearly $200,000 to pay for their out-of-pocket medical costs from the time they are 65 until they die, according to an important new study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Add in nursing home costs, and they are likely to need $260,000. But that's only part of the story. About 5 percent of 65-year-old couples will [...]
Mike Vitez at the Philadelphia Inquirer has done a great story on palliative care at a community hospital. Mike weaves the deeply touching story of Mary Tole, a 74-year-old woman who spent two months in the suburban Philadelphia hospital with an undiagnosed illness. She spent much of that time in an intensive care bed in a coma. Mike describes how the hospital's palliative care team [...]
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 [...]
A White House task force on meeting the needs of middle-class families today proposed to spend an additional $102 million to assist caregivers of aging relatives. The initiative includes an extra $52.5 million for respite care--a program enacted by Congress in 2006 but never fully funded. It is very important that the Obama Administration recognizes that caring for our parents is critical to many [...]
Republican Scott Brown's stunning victory in the Massachusetts Senate race has obviously turned the health reform debate on its head. Without a 60-vote majority in the Senate, Democrats are no longer assured of passing a major health bill. But what will this mean for long-term care reform? There are three key long-term supports and services issues at stake--expansion of Medicaid home and [...]
Why can't The Washington Post ever get it right when it comes to long-term care. Its latest self-embarrassment came with a piece it ran today comparing elder care in the U.S. with similar assistance in France and the U.K. According to the author, a psychologist named Sara Mansfield Taber, elderly women in England and France receive far better care than the writer's mother [...]