The fiscal plan proposed this week by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) would profoundly change the way seniors and younger adults with disabilities receive health care and personal assistance. For many programs, it would reduce funding from today’s levels even though the population of those over 65 will double by mid-century. In many ways, it would end the [...]
Since last year's demise of the CLASS Act, those of us worried about how the U.S. will finance the long-term care needs of the frail elderly and younger adults with disabilities have been looking for an opportunity to reopen the issue. Today, in a small first step in that direction, about two dozen state and federal officials, advocates, insurance company executives, and researchers met [...]
Assisted living and other residential care facilities are looking more and more like nursing homes. About one in four provide skilled nursing services, between half and two-thirds offer case management, and-- at least among larger facilities---two-thirds offer their residents physical or occupational therapy. More than one-third of residents will make an emergency visit to the hospital and more than one [...]
I spent this morning at an interesting Capitol Hill conference on an important—but often ignored —topic: What role should home health aides play in the delivery of care to people with chronic disease? Health care providers and policy experts are spending lots of time thinking about ways to better integrate medical and personal care. They are finally recognizing that people [...]
Long-term care services are not on the front burner of the Presidential campaign. They are not on the back burner. They are, it seems, not even on the stove. Most presidential candidates don't care enough about long-term care services to bother to describe their views on issue. Of the five candidates surveyed by 15 national advocacy groups only two--President Obama and former [...]
In his 2013 budget released today, President Obama has proposed cutting $250 billion out of Medicare and $65 billion out of Medicaid over the next 10 years. Nursing homes,hospitals, and other providers would be paid less, while some Medicare beneficiares would have to pay more out of pocket. At the same time, federal spending for other critical senior services programs would be frozen--in many [...]
We’ve all seen the articles in Forbes, Kiplingers, or U.S. News trumpeting the best states to live in retirement. A key measure for them all: Low taxes. What you may not know is that states actively compete with one another to provide tax breaks to older residents—especially to wealthy seniors. This competiton is similar to the way states use tax [...]
In a recent survey, The Washington Post asked white women and black women about their outlook and priorities when it comes to issues such as money, religion, and marriage. And in many cases, they found very big differences. But when it came to one issue, there was no disagreement at all. You guessed it: Caregiving. Nearly two-thirds of both African-American and white women worried about family [...]
My best guess is that Congress will formally repeal the CLASS Act in 2012. Already abandoned by the Obama Administration, CLASS has no champion on Capitol Hill and is likely to fall victim to implacable Republican opposition and a lack of Democratic support. Thanks to technical budget rules, Congress can now kill the national, voluntary long-term care insurance program without [...]
Private long-term care insurance can be an important tool to protect against the risk of needing costly personal assistance in old age. But two respected financial economists conclude it is very expensive relative to the benefits it provides and may not be appropriate for many buyers. At the same time, a new consumer brief from the Society of Actuaries suggests how much wealth you should have for coverage to make sense. The research paper from economists [...]