Joe Biden

Jumpstarting the Debate Over Public Long-Term Care Insurance

Rep Tom Suozzi (D-NY) has introduced a bill to create a public, catastrophic, long-term care insurance program. The monthly cash benefit, initially about $3,600 and indexed for inflation, would be funded with a modest increase in the payroll tax of 0.3 percent for workers and 0.3 percent for employers, or roughly $300-a-year for a median wage worker. For many older [...]

By |2021-07-01T11:41:01-04:00July 1st, 2021|long-term care financing|0 Comments

Where Long-Term Care Reform Goes Now

Last week, President Biden agreed to drop his proposed $400 billion increase in the federal share of Medicaid’s home-based long-term care services. He made the concession to reach a deal with a bipartisan group of 21 senators on a much broader physical infrastructure bill. But the flaws in the current system of supports and services for older adults and young [...]

By |2021-06-30T10:38:34-04:00June 30th, 2021|long term care reform|0 Comments

FDA’s Approval Of A New Alzheimer’s Drug Shows What’s Wrong With The Way We Care For Frail Older Adults

FDA’s decision last week to approve a new “Alzheimer’s disease treatment,” and the buzz that surrounds it, is a symptom of all that is wrong with the way we care for frail older adults in the US. Rather than providing the supports that people with chronic conditions desperately need, and that evidence shows works, we prefer to chase butterflies. In [...]

By |2021-06-15T11:54:04-04:00June 15th, 2021|long-term care, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Will Senate Moderates Sink Biden’s Medicaid Home-Based Long-Term Care Plan?

President Biden’s proposed massive expansion of Medicaid home-based long-term care is running into trouble in the Senate. And it may be done in, not by hard-core conservatives, but by a small group of self-styled Senate moderates. In his American Jobs Plan, Biden proposed increasing the federal share of Medicaid’s home and community-based services (HCBS) program by $400 billion—the largest increase [...]

By |2021-05-27T15:38:27-04:00May 27th, 2021|Medicaid|3 Comments

The Biden Administration Greenlights $12 Billion In Federal Medicaid Home Care Money. How Will States Spend It?

The Biden Administration has given the green light for states to begin to tap into about $12 billion in additional funding for Medicaid home-based long-term supports and services. In guidance issued to state Medicaid directors late last week, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) granted the states broad flexibility in how they use the money. The funds, [...]

By |2021-05-19T09:55:56-04:00May 19th, 2021|Medicaid|14 Comments

Americans Want Government To Help Them Age At Home, Buttressing Biden’s Medicaid Long-Term Care Agenda

A new public opinion survey shows broad bipartisan backing for more public support for long-term care, especially at home, even as congressional Republicans appear to be lining up against the idea. According a  new survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 63 percent of respondents say government should support programs to help low income people receive supports [...]

By |2021-05-03T17:22:41-04:00May 3rd, 2021|long term care reform|0 Comments

Biden Should Look Beyond Medicaid to Expand Long-Term Care

The Washington Post reports that business lobbyists are quietly trying to kill President Biden’s efforts to increase federal spending on Medicaid home and community-based (HCBS) long-term care services. The reason: The White House wants to fund the $400 billion increase—part of the president’s $2.2 trillion infrastructure spending program-- by raising corporate taxes. And make no mistake, business opposition could sink [...]

By |2021-04-22T14:32:18-04:00April 22nd, 2021|long term care reform, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Biden Begins An Important, Much-Delayed, National Debate About Long-Term Care Reform

President Biden’s $400 billion plan to expand Medicaid’s home and community based services (HCBS) for people receiving long-term services and supports (LTSS) already has accomplished one major goal: It has policymakers and opinion leaders talking about how we care for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. We not had a long-term care conversation like this since Congress created [...]

By |2021-04-08T14:58:50-04:00April 8th, 2021|Joe Biden, long term care reform, Medicaid|1 Comment

Biden Proposes The Biggest Medicaid Home-Based Long-Term Care Expansion In History, But….

In his American Jobs Plan, President Biden has proposed increasing federal support for home-based long-term care by a staggering $400 billion over eight years. A $50 billion annual increase would represent a roughly 40 percent increase in the $129 billion Medicaid spent on long-term care in 2018 and a 70 percent increase in that year’s home and community-based services (HCBS) [...]

By |2021-04-01T10:22:18-04:00April 1st, 2021|Medicaid, Uncategorized|29 Comments

As The Policy Debate Over Nursing Homes Heats Up, Operators Are On The Defensive

In the wake of the devastating effects of covid-19 on nursing home residents and their staffs, pressure is building on long-term care facilities from congressional Democrats who are exploring ways to accelerate the shift of Medicaid long-term services and supports from nursing facilities to home and community based services (HCBS).  Some states are demanding tougher health and safety rules. And [...]

By |2021-03-19T13:49:37-04:00March 19th, 2021|nursing homes|0 Comments