Richard Johnson

Medicaid Long-Term Care’s Real Problem Is Insufficient Resources, Not Abuse By Wealthy Seniors

Critics of Medicaid’s long-term services and supports (LTSS) program often complain that it is so poorly designed that lavishes benefits on wealthy retirees and wastes billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Some people do abuse the system. And they should be stopped. But the real problem with Medicaid LTSS is that in many states its benefits are so paltry that [...]

By |2022-10-06T09:42:28-04:00October 4th, 2022|Medicaid|0 Comments

The 2020s Will Be A Tipping Point For Elder Care In The US

As 2020 dawns, the US is about to reach a critical, historic tipping point in its need to care for frail older adults. And we are tragically unprepared. In just five years, the first of the 77-million strong Baby Boom generation will reach age 80—the time when people’s frailty increases dramatically and they begin to need high levels of long-term [...]

By |2020-01-01T16:03:19-05:00January 2nd, 2020|Aging, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Immigration Curbs Will Weaken Social Security

President Trump has proposed deporting hundreds of thousands of immigrants and backed curbs on legal immigration into the US. The president’s aggressive views on immigration have generated intense debate over the past year, but much of that discussion has ignored a key issue: What immigration restrictions would mean for the long-term health of Social Security. A new study by my Urban Institute [...]

By |2018-02-21T15:21:07-05:00February 21st, 2018|Social Security|0 Comments

Who Owns Long-Term Care Insurance?

About 7.2 million Americans currently own traditional long-term care insurance policies, a number that’s held steady for the last seven years. But who are they? And what does it say about the future of long-term care insurance? Overall, the share of older adults who own long-term care insurance (LTCi) has barely changed since 2002, according to new research by my [...]