The massive pandemic relief bill that the House is likely to approve by the end of this week includes billions of dollars in new funding for government long-term services and supports (LTSS) for frail older adults and young people with disabilities. But, paradoxically, the most far-reaching change may be from a temporary funding increase for Medicaid home and community-based services [...]
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 [...]
An amazing thing happened in this year’s presidential election. A major party candidate proposed raising Social Security payroll taxes. And won. More than that, it was never even an issue. What ever happened to Social Security being the third rail of American politics? The candidate, of course, was Joe Biden. He proposed a quite detailed plan for reforming Social Security [...]
In his campaign, President-elect Joe Biden promised a wide range of policy changes aimed at supporting older adults, including paid leave and tax credits for families caring for older adults, significantly more funding for Medicaid community-based long-term services and supports, and significant reforms to Social Security The question will be how much can he get done, given other priorities and [...]
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. [...]
Likely Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has proposed a major new initiative to encourage state Medicaid programs to expand home and community-based care for low-income older adults and younger people with disabilities. While the proposal is ambitious, it addresses the long-term care needs of the Medicaid population in an especially complicated way. It still leaves huge gaps in Medicaid-based care [...]
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 [...]
Most major Democratic presidential hopefuls have proposed new government assistance for those receiving long-term supports and services and their families. Mayor Pete Buttigieg has proposed public catastrophic long-term care insurance. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders would make home-based care a Medicare for All benefit. And former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Amy Klobuchar would create new tax credits [...]
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 [...]