Late last week, President Trump announced two new rules that he said would save Medicare enrollees billions of dollars in drug costs. They are unlikely to save a nickel. While there is a lot less to these new rules than President Trump claims, the real question is what steps President-elect Joe Biden and a divided Congress will take to lower [...]
As with so many issues, there is a major gulf between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden when it comes to issues that directly affect older adults. Biden has proposed a long list of specific proposals. Trump has said remarkably little about what he’d do in a second term, and that silence extends to programs that affect seniors. [...]
A national Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes has identified more than two dozen major flaws in the response of government and the nursing home industry to the covid-19 pandemic. However, the panel, created by the Trump Administration, was relatively passive in its recommendations for how to fix those shortcomings. It feels a bit like reading the [...]
President Trump’s newest White House pandemic adviser, Scott Atlas, reportedly is advocating for the strategy of building “herd immunity” to stop the spread of coronavirus. Atlas, who is a neuroradiologist and fellow at the Hoover Institution, would allow the virus to spread as widely and quickly as possible to build immunity in the overall population. Think of it as the [...]
Two years ago, the Trump Administration quietly began a review of the nation’s long-term care (LTC) insurance system, focused primarily on ways to enhance private coverage. This week, just as quietly, an administration task force released its report. Unfortunately, for the most part, the group was unwilling to commit to any meaningful changes to a badly broken system. It made [...]
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 [...]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) appears to be preparing to allow nursing homes to open their doors to families and other visitors, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. If not done carefully, this would be folly, and could put residents, staff, and families at risk. The new rules, which still are under consideration, would reverse March 16 CMS guidance [...]
With great fanfare, President Trump announced yesterday that his administration would deliver about two weeks’ worth of masks to nursing homes by the Fourth of July . And he’d stand up a commission to study quality and safety in nursing homes. All just in time to celebrate May as “Older Americans Month.” The masks apparently are going only to nursing [...]
As the coronavirus spreads, many nursing homes and assisted living facilities are discouraging family members from visiting loved ones, and they are screening those who do come. President Trump created additional confusion last night when he urged facilities to “suspend all non-essential visits.” What should you do? There is good reason for concern. While there is no evidence that older [...]
Timed to show that they are not just about impeaching President Trump, House Democrats released a far-reaching plan to redesign the Medicare drug benefit. But the measure, which the House plans to vote on next week, goes well beyond an attempt lower drug prices. It would redesign Medicare Part D cost-sharing and add key core benefits to fee-for-service Medicare Part [...]