My inbox this morning greeted me with further evidence that the issue of including long-term services and supports in health care reform is not going gently into the night.
The first email I received was about an article in the Dallas Morning News by Bob Moos about how the costs of long-term services and supports are threatening to wipe out many seniors’ savings accounts.
In the article, Moos interviews Kay Paggi, a senior-care coordinator in Texas. Paggi points out that most families are shocked to find out that Medicare doesn’t pay for long-term services and supports, which include help with bathing, dressing, or with household tasks such as cooking and cleaning.
“Our system of paying for long-term care in this country is broken,” Paggi said. “Unless you have a big family or thick wallet, you’ll run into trouble in old age.”
The Moos article noted that most long-term care is provided by an unpaid family member, typically a middle-aged daughter who must quit her job or scale back hours. And that wave of shock mentioned earlier, it may hit the families first, but the pain ripples beyond their own financial burdens. according to the MetLife Caregiving Costs Study: Productivity Losses to U.S. Business, caregiver employees cost businesses an average of $34 billion per year in lost productivity,
As a possible solution, Moos profiles AAHSA’s idea of a national insurance trust, which would require workers to pay into the fund via payroll deductions. After a short vesting period, a daily cash benefit would be available to those in need of the benefit. The program would allow people to opt out or supplement the coverage with a private long-term care insurance plan.
“For essentially the price of a cup of coffee each day, people could have an average long-term care benefit of $75 a day,” AAHSA President Larry Minnix told Moos. “If such an insurance program were in place and everyone participated, Medicaid’s costs would be cut in half.”
Meanwhile, a Roll Call article focused more on our recent advocacy efforts. The story, written by Stephen Langel, focuses on the coalition of faith-based groups that AAHSA has been working with to ensure lawmakers include long-term services and supports in health care reform legislation.
According to Langel, the coalition’s effort has paid off in the form of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act and the Empowered at Home Act “both of which will likely be a part of final health reform legislation.”
In addition, various lawmakers, including Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), House Energy and Commerce Chairman Emeritus John Dingell (D-Mich.), and Reps. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) and Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), have pledged their support of long-term services and support.
“In part, the reservoir of trust between faith-based groups and lawmakers also helps avoid the usual skepticism of business-backed bills meant to benefit particular special interests,” said Larry Minnix, who was quoted in this article as well.
Our Congressional Call-In Day efforts also made the story. Langel writes, “The groups not only met with lawmakers, but also had their members make a series of calls over the past several months to their members urging passage of legislation.”
As Larry says, “We’re either an inch or eight years away from comprehensive health care reform.” Let’s hope that the recent increase in press coverage means we’re only an inch away. We must rage, rage against any dying of the light.
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….to start something new. Last night, I came home after a particularly challenging yoga session to this article that a grandson wrote about his 90-year-old grandmother’s first yoga class. His grandmother has severe arthritis and macular degeneration. A walk down the street is a challenge for her, so it’s not surprising she was skeptical of yoga. That changed after her hour-long class.
