On New Year's Day, as part of the law that kept the nation from toppling over the fiscal cliff for two months, Congress quietly repealed the Community Living Assistance Services & Support (CLASS) Act, and created a new commission to recommend broad long-term care reforms that could affect financing, delivery and care workers. I was, and continue to be, very skeptical about the commission's ability to [...]
The New Year's budget agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff includes two key measures that could be critical to people receiving long-term supports and services and their caregivers. The first repeals the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act. The second creates a new national commission to develop a plan for better financing and delivery of long-term care services. Unfortunately, there may be [...]
With the presidential election in less than two weeks, consumers, advocates, and providers should pay attention to what Barack Obama and Mitt Romney would do about long-term supports and services for the frail elderly and younger people with disabilities. It is hard to know for sure, because neither man has said much. Yet, between the lines, there are important messages. [...]
Patient-centered care (as it is described by doctors) or person-centered care (the phrase-more frequently used in non-medical settings) is one of those concepts everyone supports--except when it comes to the details. On Nov. 8-9, I'll be participating in a two-day symposium sponsored by the Samueli Institute aimed at breaking down the barriers between the medical and non-medical world and seeking evidence [...]
Last week, I wrote about an important new survey of family caregivers that shows nearly half are performing work that is often done by nurses, such as managing medications, caring for wounds, and operating medical equipment. The report, by AARP and United Hospital Fund, sheds important light on the often unrecognized role of these family caregivers. And it raises a critical question: [...]
In the past few months, important events and circumstances have highlighted the need for an effective, sustainable way to finance the often-astronomical costs of long-term care services and supports. The growing political and financial pressures on Medicaid--the state/federal program that funds nearly half of all paid long-term care; the deepening problems in the private long-term care insurance market; and the demise of the CLASS Act--the failed attempt to [...]
The long-term care insurance industry is in big trouble. Consumers aren't buying. Carriers are dropping out of the market. And those that are staying are raising premiums, cutting discounts, and eliminating products--all of which are discouraging even more consumers from buying. What's gone wrong? The industry has two fundamental problems. A long-standing one--buyers are dropping coverage less often than the industry predicted. And a more [...]
Insurance giant Wellpoint is the latest carrier making a big bet on managing care for those seniors and adults with disabilities who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. About 9 million people, called “dual eligibles” receive benefits from both programs. They are both very poor and very sick and often have significant needs for personal assistance. Medicaid alone spends $145 [...]
By upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court has preserved—at least for now—major changes in the way long-term care supports and services are delivered and financed. Here are some provisions of the law that directly affect the frail elderly and younger adults with disabilities. Medicaid: The law is filled with important changes to this state/federal program [...]
Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn) warned today that long-term care financing is "a major train wreck" and "heading for a national crisis." Corker, the senior Republican on the Senate Aging Committee, said he was very worried about the viability of private long-term care insurance and added , "there is no doubt there is a public sector role" in the future of financing [...]