If you think the U.S. is struggling over how to finance long-term care, just take a look at what's happening in the U.K. There, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who faces an uphill battle for reelection this spring, has proposed to expand free long-term care to 280,000 of the most needy. His proposal has not only come under fire from the opposition conservatives, but also from many in [...]
A White House task force on meeting the needs of middle-class families today proposed to spend an additional $102 million to assist caregivers of aging relatives. The initiative includes an extra $52.5 million for respite care--a program enacted by Congress in 2006 but never fully funded. It is very important that the Obama Administration recognizes that caring for our parents is critical to many [...]
Republican Scott Brown's stunning victory in the Massachusetts Senate race has obviously turned the health reform debate on its head. Without a 60-vote majority in the Senate, Democrats are no longer assured of passing a major health bill. But what will this mean for long-term care reform? There are three key long-term supports and services issues at stake--expansion of Medicaid home and [...]
The Washington Post came out against the CLASS Act today. In an editorial,The Post wrote this about the proposed national long-term care insurance program: "There are already enough risks and uncertainties in health reform. Long-term care is an important topic, but it is one that deserves more careful scrutiny than has taken place in the context of the broader health-reform [...]
The CLASS Act, the proposed national long-term care insurance program, is included in the latest compromise health bill introduced today by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). This version of the bill has now been endorsed by all 60 Senate Democrats, including several, such as Nebraska's Ben Nelson, who had previously vowed to oppose the health measure if it included CLASS. Another [...]
The politics of the CLASS Act, the proposed voluntary government long-term care insurance program, are getting nastier. Critics have taken to calling it a Ponzi scheme, comparing it to Bernie Madoff, and ripping it as a massive new unfunded government spending program. Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) called it "a whole new entitlement program" which it certainly is not. I've raised concerns with CLASS [...]
The CLASS Act, a proposal to create a national long-term care insurance system, remains alive in the Senate health bill, but its fate remains far from certain. On Friday, the Senate actually voted 51-47 to drop the plan from its health bill. But, thanks to Senate rules that required 60 votes to approve the change, CLASS remains in the measure. Most troubling, [...]
Pity the supporters of the CLASS Act, the proposal to create a national long-term care insurance system. They are on to an important idea, but they are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Here's the problem: much of the congressional support for the CLASS Act is based on the Congressional Budget Office estimate that it will generate [...]
The national long-term care insurance program called the CLASS Act will be included in the Senate Democratic leadership health reform bill that is expected to be released within the next day. The decision by Democratic leader Harry Reid to add CLASS to the bill is a huge victory for backers of the measure, which is already in the House-passed bill. However, many [...]
It was a good day for supporters of the CLASS Act, the national long-term care insurance program that has been on the edges of the health reform debate. A version of the measure was included in the House Democratic reform bill introduced today by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The decison all but assures the long-term care proposal will be included in the [...]