I got back last night from two days in St. Paul, Minn, where I worked with a few dozen deeply commited people who are looking for concrete solutions to the challenges of long-term care. The program was sponsored by the Citizen's League, and it brought together nursing home executives, retired physicans, lobbyists, state officials, advocates for the elderly and the disabled, care [...]
I'm off to St. Paul to particpate in a two-day workshop on long-term care sponsored by the Minnnesota Citizens League, a non-profit dedicated to finding common ground on important policy issues among business, government, community organizations, and individuals. The progam, entitled Creating Incentives for Personal Responsibility in Long-Term Care, has exactly the right goal: Finding community solutions to the challenges of caring for [...]
The most bizarre episode so far in Washington's health care debate is the persistent rumor that the House version of reform would force Medicare patients to participate in counseling sessions where they would "learn how to end their life sooner." This is a lie. The House bill would do no such thing. Yet the myth persists, thanks to constant repetition by conservative radio talk show hosts such [...]
For those interested in long-term care, the House Democrats' consensus health reform bill is pretty disappointing. Unlike the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee version, it includes no proposal for national long-term care insurance. And it largely ignores efforts to expand access to home care for those on Medicaid, who now often can only get care in nursing facilities, or to better coordinate care [...]