LOS ANGELES TIMES

Title: INSURE: Home Care May Be in Package

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The emerging basic benefits package, which is also expected to
cover mental health services and electlve abortions. is at the core of the overall health care reform agenda that the President is expected to unveil in mid-June.

That the President has tentatively decided to include long-term care in the basic benefits package ls not a surprise. although it marks a dramatic new turn in federal health policy.

Administration officials. most notably Mrs. Clinton, have strongly argued that long-term custodial care at home is much cheaper than that provided in a health care institution or a nursing home.

The long-term care program is expected to be vigorously supported by such powerful groups as the American Assn. of Retired Persons—but just as strongly opposed by the insurance industry. which would like to see private insurers continue selling such policies.

Whether the long-term care program will gain widespread middle-class support remains to be seen.

On the one hand. the cost of the President's health care reform
could roach $90 billion or more a year. and that could sap popular support for his agenda, including the long-term care coverage.

Yet key Administration officials view long-term care as a family issue that cuts across generations and they are known to believe that such coverage would gain the support of members of the middle class because it affords them a new measure of peace of mind.

"Protection from the high cost of long-term care increases the public's willingness to support and pay for health care reform," said Judith N. Brown, who chairs AARP's board of directors.

An estimated 7 million disabled Americans need help annually
with basic daily tasks, and that number may double by the year 2030, according to Sen. William S. Cohen of Maine. the ranking Republican member on the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

Today, nearly half of all long-term care costs are paid for out-of-
pocket by those in need or their families.

The high costs of such labor-intensive care often wipes out the life
savings of those without long-term care coverage, forcing them into Medicaid programs to make them eligible for government-subsidized nursing home care.

The Administration's long-term goal is to provide coverage for
institutional care as well.

One top insurance industry official called It "a fundamental mistake" to include long-term care for all disabled Americans regardless of age or wealth.

"Those who can afford to cure for themselves should attempt to
take care of themselves." he said, asking to rennin anonymous.

According lo one set of options prepared for the President by his
task force working group on long-term care, purchase of such coverage could be voluntary.

During a recent closed meeting with members of Congress. Mrs. Clinton cited as one model for the White House a program in Wisconsin that began in the mid-1980s called Community Options Program.

It now serves 11,300 disabled persons. And by keeping them out of more expensive nursing homes or other institutions, the $71.6-million program is saving an average of more than $100 million annually, officials said. COI has a two-year waiting list of 3,700 persons.

The program uses personal case-managers in each county and is
often tailored to each individual.

A similar program in Arkansas, which also has served as a paradigm for the Administration, has 10,000 beneficiaries, many of whom are costing the state $300 a month instead of $1,200 a month for intermediate care in a nursing home, officials said.

Created on

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Posted on

Wednesday 7 August 2019

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