The congressional proposal to increase federal funding for Medicaid’s home and community-based (HCBS) long-term care program likely would benefit the US economy, although it could increase costs for those not receiving Medicaid. The HCBS expansion is included in the current House version of President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) social spending, climate, and tax plan. Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) and [...]
The covid-19 pandemic drove a collapse in both patient volume and revenue for post-acute care in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). And while patient numbers have increased modestly since the worst of the pandemic, they remain far below 2019 and probably are financially unsustainable for the SNFs. At the same time, bipartisan federal legislation in the House and Senate would create [...]
The Build Back Better social spending bill the House passed this morning includes a long list of important changes aimed at improving the quality of life of older adults. There is much left to be done, and even this bill may be pared back in the Senate. But following the pandemic catastrophe for older adults, it would be significant progress. [...]
Washington State’s first-in-the-nation public long-term care insurance program is headed to court. A group of employers and workers has sued the state with the goal of getting the law overturned. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of three employers and six workers, argues that the insurance program violates a long list of federal and state laws including the Employee Income Security [...]
After much back-and-forth, House Democrats decided to include a scaled-back version of a family and medical leave plan in their nearly $2 trillion version of the Build Back Better social spending bill. The measure would give families up to four weeks of leave a year to care for relatives who are ill, including those who need long-term personal assistance. The [...]
President Biden’s scaled-down $1.7 trillion Build Back Better social spending and tax plan retains major benefit increases for Medicaid long-term care recipients as well as Medicare enrollees. But it trims more ambitious initiatives and drops an earlier proposal for family and medical leave. Here are key elements of the plan, which likely will change as it works its way through [...]
What would you do if the federal government gave you a chunk of $12 billion to spend on Medicaid home and community-based care for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities? That is a real question governors have been wrestling for months. And we now are getting a good sense of the answer: Mostly, they will spend the windfall [...]
When Washington State legislators approved a public long-term care (LTC) insurance program in 2019, they made a last-minute change: Residents could opt out if they purchased private LTC coverage by Nov 1, 2021. Those who remained would pay an annual payroll tax surcharge of 0.58 percent starting next year and, in return, be eligible for a public LTC insurance benefit [...]
I was a caregiver for my dad. It was extremely rewarding. And incredibly difficult. It was, in fact, the hardest thing I ever have done. Many family care partners pay a high physical, emotional, and financial price for what they do. Now, as Congress is debating major policy changes aimed at making the lives of family caregivers easier, we are [...]
The shortage of staff in long-term facilities and home care agencies has gone from a problem to a crisis. Three rural nursing homes in Maine close because they cannot hire enough staff to maintain care for patients and residents. A nursing home in Oklahoma shuts its doors due to a staff shortages. Same in Kansas. A new industry survey reports [...]