Brookings Institution

We Need More Immigrants to Care For Frail Older Adults

The US desperately needs more direct care workers to provide personal assistance to frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. Many native-born Americans were unwilling to do this work even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, shortages are far worse. Yet, the US continues to bar entry to those who are willing and able to care for frail older adults [...]

By |2022-04-21T10:00:19-04:00April 21st, 2022|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Using Housing As a Hub For Senior Services

Most seniors want to age at home rather than move to a senior living facility. But this choice brings many challenges, including the risks of social isolation, limited access to medical care and supportive services, and the potential for falls or other injuries that come from living in a home that is unsafe for a frail older adult. But there [...]

By |2018-04-04T14:21:28-04:00April 4th, 2018|aging in place|0 Comments

Trump Backs Paid Leave for New Parents, But Ignores Those Caring For The Elderly

The Trump Administration believes that caring for babies is so important that employers should give their parents up to six weeks of paid leave. It apparently doesn’t believe it is as important, or as disruptive to work life, to care for aging parents or other relatives in need of personal assistance. That, at least, is the message it is sending [...]

By |2017-06-09T10:17:33-04:00June 9th, 2017|family caregivers|0 Comments

Steps on the Path to Public/Private Long-Term Care Financing

Yesterday, the CEO of the nation’s largest long-term care insurance company, Genworth, acknowledged the US needs a new model of LTC insurance that includes some government role.  Tom  McInerney estimated that between half and two-thirds of Americans simply cannot afford to buy insurance in the traditional private market.  A 50-something can expect to pay an average of $2,500-$3,000-a-year for a typical [...]

By |2015-06-24T15:36:34-04:00June 24th, 2015|long-term care insurance|2 Comments

A PBS NewsHour Panel On How To Care For Aging Americans

On Monday, I participated in a PBS NewsHour panel on how to improve services and supports for an aging America. PBS brought together a diverse group of long-term care experts to discuss some interesting international models for delivering supports and services to the frail elderly in a way that allows them to preserve their dignity and independence. The models ranged from [...]

By |2013-11-07T00:51:20-05:00November 7th, 2013|Aging, long term care reform|0 Comments

It Is Time To Think About Catastrophic Long-Term Care Insurance

Why is there no catastrophic long-term care insurance? It could benefit millions of middle-income people who are able to pay for a few years of services and supports on their own but need to protect themselves against the risk of a very long period of need that would impoverish all but a handful of us. Even though catastrophic coverage is a [...]

Three New Health Reform Plans Ignore the Long-Term Care Needs of Seniors and People with Disabilities

In the past few weeks, no fewer than three highly respected groups have proposed major health care reforms. They all promise greater use of patient-centered integrated care, but none include supports and services for frail elders or younger people with disabilities. It took four decades to incorporate a drug benefit into Medicare. Now we seem to be in the same place [...]