“Look To The States, Not Congress, For Long-Term Care Financing Reform”

“Look To The States, Not Congress, For Long-Term Care Financing Reform,” by Howard Gleckman, Blog

“While there is no chance the federal government will enact long-term care financing reform any time soon, several states are busy developing public insurance programs of their own. These initiatives could be a critical step as the nation wrestles with how to pay for personal care for older adults and others with disabilities or chronic disease. … The next few years may see many important long-term care financing initiatives. But they’ll all come from the states, not the gridlocked federal government.”

 

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

In America’s laudable “federal” system, the states are experimental laboratories for social reform. Thankfully, Washington and California are trying out “social insurance” approaches to finance long-term care which affect only their own citizens. As all such Ponzi schemes are bound to fail—witness Social Security and Medicare—we can thank the Evergreen and Golden states for saving us from a much bigger blunder at the national level. There is a better way, but you have to understand the problem before you can propose a successful solution. Read Long-Term Care: The Problem.