I and others have written endlessly about the importance of supporting family caregivers. They are the backbone of the system of care that supports frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. Often, their assistance is vastly more important than costly medical treatment. But many family members provide this care with little or no training, no guidance about services that [...]
Three things are true about long-term care, though many Americans don’t want to believe it: You are very likely to need it in old age. It will cost a lot more than you think. And, no, Medicare won’t pay for it. Two recent studies help explain how Americans think about the financial aspects of their long-term care needs, and why [...]
Deregulation has been a cornerstone of the Republican brand for decades. And the Trump Administration vows to cut government red tape wherever it finds it. Yet, House Republicans would use their just-passed budget bill to create reams of paperwork explicitly intended to block low- and moderate income households or immigrants from government assistance to which they are legally entitled. Just [...]
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) is exploring ways to lower the costs of his proposal for a public catastrophic long-term care insurance program. Among the ideas on the table: Simplifying the benefit structure and switching from a cash benefit to one that reimburses people for their out-of-pocket expenses. Suozzi’s bill, the Well-Being Insurance for Seniors to be at Home (WISH) Act, [...]
We soon will learn what Congress and the Trump Administration have in store for Medicaid. But while the state/federal program has become a high-profile target, it is widely misunderstood. And so are the consequences of major Medicaid changes for older adults, people with disabilities, and their families. Yes, Medicaid provides medical insurance for low-income working age people and their children. [...]
The Trump Administration is abolishing the office that manages and coordinates most federal programs for older adults and younger people with disabilities who live at home. At the same time, it is restructuring two offices that provide independent evaluation and analysis of patient safety and long-term care. The elimination of the Administration for Community Living (ACL) will be a major [...]
President Trump’s advisor Elon Musk went on TV the other day to say he’d cut up to $700 billion in fraud and waste from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. He can’t. The inevitable result: He’ll have to either slash benefits for program recipients or fall far short of his goals for cutting government spending. Or, perhaps, both. The Trump White [...]
In a seemingly off-the cuff television remark, President Trump said he’d protect Medicaid from government spending cuts. Don’t count on it, especially since at nearly the same time, and after dithering for months, Trump endorsed a draft House Republican budget framework that anticipates cuts of as much as nearly $900 billion in Medicaid over the next decade. Supporters of deep [...]
Despite his vow to close the US borders to nearly all immigrants and deport millions of others, President-elect Trump says he’ll continue special H-1B work visas for tech workers. That decision came in response to some of his Silicon Valley supporters, who insist foreign labor is critical because there are not enough US-born engineers and others to do this important [...]
Later this year, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) will reintroduce his public catastrophic long-term care insurance bill, called the WISH Act. Suozzi is doing all the right things: Looking for Republican support and trying to engage the private insurance industry, long-term care providers, and employers, as well as advocates for older adults and people with disabilities. But he has a big [...]