“Free Long-Term Care for All?,” by Romeo Raabe, ThinkAdvisor

“Last week, Joanne Lynn, M.D, a noted geriatrician, warned members of Congress that enormous misery is coming. It will come within the next 10 years, if the country fails to improve support programs for the elderly. Many baby boomers believe that long-term care is free of charge from the government and have failed to plan for it. Most have completely ignored this topic, as it is not fun to think about or discuss. … If those who could pay for their care did (or frugally bought LTC insurance), there would be a lot more money available for the needy. There would be a lot more money available to pay care facilities what it costs to care for their residents. They could pay more than minimum wage and retain their caregivers. Long-term care insurance can go a long way to alleviate these problems. Let’s make the premiums completely income-tax deductible — which would be less costly than having Medicaid pay for care. Let’s encourage personal responsibility for our long-term care.”

 

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):

Kudos to Center for Long-Term Care Reform Wisconsin Regional Representative Romeo Raabe for this thoughtful article.