Georgetown Professor Judy Feder Discusses Long Term Care Policy (July 29th)
www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com
Listen Now Federal policymakers have struggled unsuccessfully since at least the 1980s to create a national long term care (LTC) policy. LTC coverage is available however it can only be obtained by pursing a complicated asset depletion process to qualify for coverage under the Medicaid program. (Medicare is frequently assumed to provide LTC. It does not.) The 2010 Affordable Care Act's CLASS Act, that would have created a voluntary, public long-term care insurance option for employees, was determined in 2011 to be actuarially unworkable and in 2013 was repealed. The 2013 American Taxpayer Relief Act's Commission on Long Term Care produced a report that contained service delivery and workforce recommendations but did not reach agreement regarding financing. Though most comparative countries provide for LTC, the US remains without despite the fact with a rapidly aging population the demand for LTC services will significantly increase this decade and beyond (e.g., the number of Medicare beneficiaries is expected to grow from 55 to 80 million this decade), private LTC is largely unaffordable and less than 10% of the middle income population age 45 or older owns a commercial LTC insurance policy.
Georgetown Professor Judy Feder Discusses Long Term Care Policy (July 29th)
Georgetown Professor Judy Feder Discusses…
Georgetown Professor Judy Feder Discusses Long Term Care Policy (July 29th)
Listen Now Federal policymakers have struggled unsuccessfully since at least the 1980s to create a national long term care (LTC) policy. LTC coverage is available however it can only be obtained by pursing a complicated asset depletion process to qualify for coverage under the Medicaid program. (Medicare is frequently assumed to provide LTC. It does not.) The 2010 Affordable Care Act's CLASS Act, that would have created a voluntary, public long-term care insurance option for employees, was determined in 2011 to be actuarially unworkable and in 2013 was repealed. The 2013 American Taxpayer Relief Act's Commission on Long Term Care produced a report that contained service delivery and workforce recommendations but did not reach agreement regarding financing. Though most comparative countries provide for LTC, the US remains without despite the fact with a rapidly aging population the demand for LTC services will significantly increase this decade and beyond (e.g., the number of Medicare beneficiaries is expected to grow from 55 to 80 million this decade), private LTC is largely unaffordable and less than 10% of the middle income population age 45 or older owns a commercial LTC insurance policy.