The Washington Post reports that business lobbyists are quietly trying to kill President Biden’s efforts to increase federal spending on Medicaid home and community-based (HCBS) long-term care services. The reason: The White House wants to fund the $400 billion increase—part of the president’s $2.2 trillion infrastructure spending program-- by raising corporate taxes. And make no mistake, business opposition could sink [...]
President Biden’s $400 billion plan to expand Medicaid’s home and community based services (HCBS) for people receiving long-term services and supports (LTSS) already has accomplished one major goal: It has policymakers and opinion leaders talking about how we care for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. We not had a long-term care conversation like this since Congress created [...]
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a catastrophe for frail older adults. More than 170,000 residents and staff of long-term care facilities have died from the virus, and adults over age 65 living in all settings have accounted for about 80 percent of the nation’s deaths, or about 400,000 fatalities. But what lessons have we learned? And how can we build [...]
The illness and death that covid-19 has brought to older adults has created an historic opportunity for the US to rethink the way it delivers and pays for long-term care. Yet, much of the long-term care industry and even many advocates for older adults and younger people with disabilities are lobbying for short-term fixes, not real reform. Nursing homes and [...]
Likely Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is, very slowly and cautiously, acknowledging the need to reform the way we support frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. In recent days, a task force created by his campaign made several proposals to expand home and community based care under Medicaid and support both family and paid caregivers. Since covid-19 has killed more [...]
Nearly every American knows who George Floyd was and how he died. Tens of thousands around the country took to the streets to protest his May 25 killing by a Minneapolis police officer. Just a month after his death, the US House of Representatives passed a major police reform bill—normally a process that would take years. If George Floyd has [...]
The way we care for older adults in the US is, self-evidently, not working. In just the past three months, at least 44,000 residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have died from COVID-19. Hundreds of thousands have been sickened. And millions have been isolated from family and friends for months. Yet, this crisis did not [...]
Most major Democratic presidential hopefuls have proposed new government assistance for those receiving long-term supports and services and their families. Mayor Pete Buttigieg has proposed public catastrophic long-term care insurance. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders would make home-based care a Medicare for All benefit. And former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Amy Klobuchar would create new tax credits [...]
Most of the major Democratic presidential hopefuls have proposed ways for government to support frail older adults and their families. But they have chosen three very different models: tax credits; universal government-funded benefits; and public long-term care insurance. Which design makes the most sense? Here’s a first look. Tax credits: Former vice president Joe Biden’s plan includes a $5,000 non-refundable tax [...]
All the major Democratic presidential hopefuls have proposed significant plans to support those receiving long-term supports and services and their families. While this amount of attention to long-term care is unprecedented, the candidates are taking three broadly different approaches to the problem: tax credits; universal government-funded coverage; and public long-term care insurance against catastrophic costs. Most also support higher pay [...]