Congressional Democrats are expected to include a broad expansion of traditional Medicare benefits-- including dental, vision, and hearing—in a $3.5 trillion social spending bill they’ll consider later this year. The move would be the biggest expansion of Medicare since Congress added a drug benefit in 2003 and would go a long way toward improving the health and well-being of millions [...]
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 [...]
This week’s second round of debates among Democratic presidential hopefuls is producing a (mostly healthy) conversation about health insurance. But for normal people, much of the argument is enormously confusing. What are these candidates talking about? And how are their plans different from today’s Medicare and from one another? One way to make this debate more comprehensible is to drop [...]
Believe it or not, there is a chance President Trump and congressional Democrats can reach an agreement this year to limit the growth in Medicare drug prices. It certainly won’t be easy, given the toxic relationship the president and Democrats have built up in just the past few weeks. But both sides have good reasons to make a deal, and [...]
The Democrats won control of the House, largely on the back of health policy. And many members of the caucus have gone on record in favor of what’s come to be known as “Medicare for all.” The idea is hugely popular, backed by 58 percent of Americans in some polls and up to 70 percent in others. But what does [...]
How much would it cost if government pays for all long-term care? About $4 trillion over the next decade. We know because Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has proposed to do just that, as part of his ambitious Medicare-for-all health insurance program. And, in an effort to calculate the overall cost of Sanders’s domestic policy agenda, a group of my [...]