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Government long-term care insurance has many supporters 2009-12-14 A little-discussed piece of the healthcare reform bill, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, narrowly survived a Senate vote two weeks ago. The act would create the country's first national long-term insurance plan. Workers would pay premiums for at least five years; in retirement, people would get approximately $75 a day to contribute to long-term care costs. LTC insurance is available through private channels already, and the most vocal opponents of the CLASS Act are denizens of the insurance industry. But James P. Firman, president of the National Council on Aging, said in a Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial that the AARP and 140 other organizations support the act. And Firman cited a survey by the SCAN Foundation finding that 79 percent of people would be more likely to support a healthcare bill that included an LTC provision. The LTC insurance provided by the CLASS Act would help put a stopper in one of the federal government's most expensive programs, Medicaid. Howard Gleckman, a research associate at the Urban Institute, says that one-third of Medicaid's budget goes to LTC expenses. And the act would permit seniors to use the funds any way they saw fit, potentially improving seniors' quality of life substantially.  |
