“How the Medicaid Debate Affects Long-Term Care Insurance Decisions,” by Ron Lieber, New York Times

“Something will have to give if we are to take the senators responsible for this bill at their word, and plenty of readers are taking them literally. So the question I’ve heard most in the last two weeks is this: How seriously should I consider getting some kind of insurance to cover my care in case big Medicaid cuts are on the horizon? . . . Given how strapped Medicaid is likely to become and how many more of us will live long enough to find our brains and bank accounts depleted before our bodies, it seems quite likely that the federal and state governments will have to do more, not less, to keep older Americans off the streets. No one in Washington seems to want to own up to that, but they will soon have no choice. . . . How soon will the federal and state governments come around, by formally paying for long-term care for all dementia patients and by allowing a different kind of death for those who choose it? It’s hard to say, but many of us didn’t think gay marriage and legal marijuana would happen so quickly.”

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):How revolting! According to this article drastic cuts to Medicaid (none are proposed, only reductions in the program’s rate of growth) should not encourage people to buy LTC insurance because government will be forced to pay for long-term care anyway, somehow, along with implementing euthanasia to curtail those costs. Thanks, New York Times, that was really helpful.

How the Medicaid Debate Affects Long-Term Care Insurance Decisions

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