I am deeply concerned that the American public, especially our nation’s elders, will be relying on our government to offer long term care services they’ll in no way see. They will only see the “smoke and mirrors” of Well being Care Reform.
Our nation’s seniors are the most vulnerable segment of the U.S. population vulnerable each overall health smart and financially. They’re silently discovering the savings they thought would be adequate is not enough. They’re silently fearful of running out of dollars with no 1 to care for them as they come to be extra frail. The silence is about to come to be deafening.
Regrettably, when Well being Care Reform proudly announced New Lengthy Term Care Services, it discouraged numerous American’s from purchasing Extended Term Care Insurance coverage.
The New York Instances reported on ‘Options Expand for Affordable Lengthy-Term Care’ THE NEW OLD AGE. The Related Press announced ‘New Well being Care Law Has Added benefits for Seniors’. Point becoming, the casual reader was relieved to hear their government will “take care of them” when they need lengthy term care services. We now know that is not about to take place.
Fortunately our representatives in Washington discovered that Wellness Care Reforms answer to the issue of Long Term Care, “CLASS”, (Community Living Help Solutions and Supports Act) legislation would have been fiscally unsound. $70 billion in premiums that was expected to be raised for the new “extended term care” plan would have been counted as “deficit reduction”. The long term care advantages it was intended to finance had been assumed not to materialize in the initially 10 years. However, that income was not accounted for anywhere in the legislation.
The new legislation proposed to “trim” $463 billion from Medicare. Yet Medicare is currently having difficulty balancing its books right now. However, why does the health care bill tell us Medicare can operate additional cheaply going forward with no the accompanying reforms?
Our national media gave massive fanfare to the CLASS ACT when it passed. However the media has provided the CLASS ACT’s demise small consideration. Now what?
Projections show that the federal deficit is expected to exceed $700 billion annually more than the subsequent decade. This primarily will double the national and $900 billion represents interest on prior debt. Would the CFO of any main corporation in the United States permit the firm he worked for to finish up in this form of monetary position? Domiciliary care not.
Our officials in Congress have been elected to shield the greatest interests of the American people today. “Robbing Peter to spend Paul”, and after once more printing much more currency, has turn into our government’s mantra for the future. Yet the magnitude of the mismanagement of America’s purse strings has now reached an unconscionable state.
The United States of America can not continue to mismanage its monetary future. Future Congresses will have to deliver a multitude of future reforms and, regrettably, history tells us THAT will never ever happen. Proposals for financing health reform have been based on extra “smoke and mirrors”. The “Cadillac” tax is scheduled to begin in 2018.
The health care legislation that has been forced on each and every and each one of us is identified to be fiscally unsound. Exactly where do we go from right here? It is too straightforward to point the finger at the President and his administration. But Congress owns the responsibility of passing Overall health Care Legislation. And THAT is the dilemma.
The 535 voting members of Congress shared the responsibility equally. If a single clear pondering, intelligent, honorable Congressman had the entire responsibility for Overall health Care Reform, he or she would not have forced a fiscally unsound Well being Care Reform Bill down our throats.
Now let’s again evaluate how Overall health Care Reform will operate against our senior citizens.
A most recent government report identified that in 2000 there have been 1.eight million offered nursing home beds. As the year 2010 came to a close, there have been 1.7 million nursing residence beds a net 5 % reduction in obtainable beds. And, there are no new nursing houses being built.
Now there is less than 1.5 million Americans confined to nursing properties. Reportedly ten % of these nursing houses are operating under bankruptcy protection. It really is effectively known that most of these facilities are understaffed and several never have competent aid.
Next, let’s consider that the Alzheimer’s Association tells us the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s following age 85 is 50 %. By 2030, they tell us that the number of folks age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s illness is estimated to attain 7.7 million, a 50 percent raise from the five.2 million age 65 and older at the moment impacted.
The logical question I should ask is “if we can’t take sufficient care of 1.five million folks now, how can we possibly take care of 7.7 million people today in 2030?” We can not. Much more simply put, when you or your spouse or your parent has Alzheimer’s, there is no spot for them to go. Not to be cruel, but if you ever think for a moment about taking in an aged parent with Alzheimer’s into your household, please consider once more. Ask any caregiver who’s been by way of it. It’s Assured to destroy any families’ peace of mind and harmony.
Why aren’t our political leaders actively working on solutions? Where’s the outcry? Regrettably our political leaders only align themselves with solvable troubles.
America’s seniors became a lot more hopeful reading that Overall health Reform will assistance them with added Lengthy Term Care services. And we now know THAT is not going to occur. There are no plans in location to assist our nation’s seniors think they’ll acquire the comfort and dignity of sufficient lengthy term care services. What’s worse is the silence shared by all our political leaders. The silence is now deafening.