A group of influential policy experts has designed a universal home care benefit for people with physical and cognitive limitations. In a major change from the existing system in the US, where government-funded long-term care is primarily a Medicaid benefit, they’d shift much home care to Medicare. Their plan would be available to anyone who has a significant need for [...]
The US health system often is plagued by too much of a (sometimes) good thing. Doctors order a test or treatment and then continue them for the rest of the patient’s life, whether they really need them or not. And, often, they are ongoing for no good reason, despite potential risks to patients. The current Journal of the American Medical [...]
One of the Trump Administration’s most glaring contradictions is this one: Top officials repeatedly promise to give consumers maximum choice in the care they receive. Yet, the same people are making it harder than ever to access one form of care overwhelmingly chosen by older adults, younger people with disabilities, and their families: home-based care. The White House is doing [...]
In a new experimental program, Medicare soon will pay participating doctors to provide better preventive care for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. Among the initiatives, it will encourage greater support aimed at avoiding falls. The program, called Long-term Enhanced ACO Design, or LEAD, is an important step toward encouraging medical providers to help prevent falls before they [...]
It is impossible to have a conversation about caring for older adults (or most anything else for that matter) without pivoting to AI and related tech. It may be especially important when it comes to frail seniors, given the shortage of both paid aides and family caregivers—a situation likely to worsen as more Baby Boomers reach their 80s and draconian [...]
Critical food programs for older adults, such as Meals on Wheels, avoided major reductions in federal support when Congress finally approved a spending plan last month. But for the third year in a row, lawmakers froze funding for these efforts. And after taking into account rising costs and a growing population of frail older adults, no increase in funding inevitably [...]
In his State of Union address, President Trump said he’d propose expanding an existing federal government contribution to retirement savings plans. But what would that really mean? While the White House offered no details, Trump said this, “I’m announcing that next year my administration will give these oft-forgotten American workers, great people, the people that built our country, access to [...]
You’ll Need To Save An Average of $135,000 For Long-Term Care. But Many Will Pay Much More On average, 65- year-olds need to put aside $135,000 to pay for long-term care in their old age, according to a new report by the actuarial firm Milliman Inc. But beware of the average: About 43% of older adults will need no paid [...]
The fiscal 2026 spending bill approved by Congress this month preserves federal funding for most senior service programs. Perhaps surprisingly, the GOP majority on Capitol Hill rejected many deep program cuts proposed by the Trump Administration. However, the measure excludes Medicaid, which Congress cut deeply in a separate budget package last summer. The spending bills, passed four months after the [...]
To the shock of the big insurance companies that run most Medicare Advantage managed care plans, the government has proposed boosting payments to plans by just 0.09% in 2027. That would be a fraction of the annual increase plans received in the past and far below what they, and their investors, expected. Share prices plummeted and plan executives darkly warned [...]