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SCAN Foundation

Divided Congressional LTC Panel Will Urge Modest Delivery Reforms, Deadlocks on Financing

A divided congressional long-term care commission has adopted a package of recommendations aimed at improving the nation’s long-term supports and services.  However, while a majority of the panel agreed on some modest delivery and workforce reforms, it could not reach a consensus on all-important financing solutions. In effect, the commission will recommend changes that would effectively retain the current framework of financing [...]

By |2013-09-13T18:24:23-04:00September 13th, 2013|Aging, congressional long-term care commission, long term care reform, long-term care financing|0 Comments
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Long-Term Care Commission Must Finish By Sept. 30

The Congressional Long-Term Care Commission met for the first time on Thursday, just two days after naming an executive director. But members acknowledge they have no choice but to finish in barely 90 days. That’s an absurdly short amount of time for the panel to meet the ambitious goal Congress gave it—to recommend ways to improve the way we deliver [...]

By |2013-06-30T20:54:55-04:00June 30th, 2013|congressional long-term care commission, long term care reform|1 Comment
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Long-Term Care Commission Names Chernof Chair, Will Meet On June 27

The Congressional Long-Term Care Commission has selected SCAN Foundation president Bruce A. Chernof as its chair and Mark Warshawsky, director of retirement research at the consulting firm Towers Watson, as Vice Chair. The panel will hold its first meeting on June 27. The commission also quietly replaced one of its members, former Louisiana Secretary of Health and Hospitals Bruce Greenstein. His [...]

By |2013-06-12T14:03:16-04:00June 12th, 2013|congressional long-term care commission, long term care reform|0 Comments
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How the Arts Can Change Care for Elders and People with Disabilities

Yesterday morning, a veteran of the decades-long effort to improve the way we deliver and pay for long-term supports and services asked me a question. Why, he wondered, should he believe that recent attempts to reform long-term care could succeed when so many previous initiatives have failed.  Last evening, I may have found an answer. My wife and I went to see [...]

By |2013-05-01T15:38:53-04:00May 1st, 2013|Aging, Health reform, long term care reform|0 Comments
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Do Seniors Hide Assets to Get Medicaid Long-Term Care Benefits?

There is a widespread belief that seniors, in cahoots with shady lawyers and greedy children, hide their assets so they can receive Medicaid long-term care benefits.  It turns out that this image—sort of the greedy geezer equivalent of Cadillac-driving welfare queens—is largely an urban myth. While some seniors undoubtedly find ways to transfer assets (everyone, it seems, knows someone who has—or [...]

By |2013-04-24T14:34:42-04:00April 24th, 2013|long-term care financing, Medicaid|3 Comments
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Policy Experts Agree: The U.S. System for Financing Long-Term Care is Crumbling

America’s system for financing long-term care is failing, and the window for creating a payment system that works is rapidly closing. That was the conclusion of a morning-long expert session sponsored last week by the SCAN Foundation. While the participants differed on specific solutions, most agreed on four key issues: The existing system for funding paid long-term supports and services [...]

By |2013-03-27T18:57:21-04:00March 27th, 2013|long term care reform, long-term care financing, long-term care insurance|3 Comments
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What Ever Happened to the Long-Term Care Commission?

Nearly two months ago, Congress created a commission to recommend reforms to the current long-term care system. So what has happened since? Not much. Leaders of Congress have appointed members to serve on the panel but President Obama—who has three of 15 picks-- has not yet made his choices. The commission can’t select a chairman, find a staff, or set an agenda [...]

By |2013-02-25T21:31:30-05:00February 25th, 2013|Aging, long term care reform, Medicaid, nursing homes|1 Comment
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Integrating Health Care and Long-Term Care

Let me tell you about Frank. At  86, he has heart disease, diabetes, and kidney failure. He lives at home but struggles with the 16 medications he must take every day. He could also use some social support--maybe an adult day program, help shopping, or just somebody to keep him company. What Frank needs most of all is somebody who can help organize all of his medical [...]

By |2012-06-06T19:58:31-04:00June 6th, 2012|Aging, Care Coordination, Health Care, Medicaid, Medicare|0 Comments
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New Report: $115 Average Premiums for CLASS-Like Insurance

A new model from the SCAN Foundation and the consulting firm Avalere Health concludes that premiums for a national voluntary long-term care insurance program similar to the newly-enacted CLASS Act would average about $115-a-month. The study concludes that a mandatory long-term care insurance program could provide identical benefits for one-third the cost, or about $40. Premiums would vary by the buyer's age and increase by inflation over time. The CLASS [...]

By |2010-04-15T19:31:46-04:00April 15th, 2010|long term care reform, long-term care financing|0 Comments
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