Reform bill launches long term care debate

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  1

  LongTermCareInsurancePros

  07/20/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Reform bill launches long term care debate

  Great Article! This health care reform will "lull" the general public into thinking that the government will take care of all their long-term care needs. Only when you are personally involved with caregiving do you know that $50/day does not go very far.
  I agree that it is smart and responsible to plan for your long-term care needs with long term care insurance or possible a hybrid product. It will give you the opportunity to stay at home longer with good quality care.
  A great source is found at www.LongTermCareInsurancePros.com

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  2

  jesseslome

  07/21/09 | Report as spam

  We Are Saddling Future Generations

  From Jesse Slome, Executive Director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.
  
  The new legislation does nothing more than create a new and very costly entitlement program. The writers have been very astute calling for a voluntary plan and marketing it as $65 a month. First, the Congressional Budget Office has said that's already too low. Second, that amounts to $1,500 a year for a couple.
  
  What will happen is too few people will sign-up. Those with health conditions will. As a result, when claims start coming in, the new government program will be significantly underfunded (but it will be established). Taking away an entitlement is next to impossible.
  
  Thus, it will evolve into an underfunded mandatory program. For baby boomers it's a great deal because our earning and peak tax-paying days are nearing an end. For the next generation, well sorry kids looks like baby boomers are going to sneak this one by you and leave you holding the (empty) bag.
  
  Certainly the issue of long-term care merits meaningful discussion.
  
  Jesse Slome
  American Asscciation for Long-Term Care Insurance
  http://www.aaltci.org/

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  3

  Scott A Olson CLTC

  07/21/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Reform bill launches long term care debate

  This program will probably be underfunded in the long term, but it will be
  help federal revenues in the short-term.
  
  The best part of the bill is that it will help raise awareness in this
  country that everyone does need to plan for long-term care.
  
  Secondly, the provisions in the bill that allow for private long-term care
  insurance to be purchased with pre-tax dollars, will encourage more
  people to purchase private long-term care insurance to supplement the
  $50 daily benefit in the CLASS Act.
  
  Scott A. Olson
  www.LTCInsuranceShopper.com
  

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  4

  dedrizen

  07/22/09 | Report as spam

  At odds with other lines in health care reform?

  I've been reading some stuff on the health care bill(s) being considered. Elsewhere, someone took the time to point out a couple things. There are provisions for government official(s) to define end of life benefits. Provisions for counseling various groups (old, dying, etc.) in end of life procedures.
  
  You could read these lines as caring about the suffering or aged, or you could read these as cost saving measures to get people off the system by encouraging them to "go peacefully." As for myself, if I had to guess, I would favor the latter. It really doesn't matter, government has a very bad habit of underestimating the cost and overestimating what they can accomplish. Sometimes they do alright, but looking at Social Security, MediCare, and the sort, it doesn't look promising for that $65/month.

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  JJMMWGdP

  07/22/09 | Report as spam

  Jim

  The White House Chief of Staff's brother authored a white paper exploring how abortion and euthanasia could be tools for reducing the spend on government health care. How long till we build a Hadamar center and help rid society of "life unworthy of life"?

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  K1FDH

  07/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Reform bill launches long term care debate

  Here is some important info from Betsy McCaughy on her website -
  http://www.defendyourhealthcare.us/home.html
  
  "Start with Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. He has already been appointed to two key positions: health-policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research."
  
  "Emanuel bluntly admits that the cuts will not be pain-free. "Vague promises of savings from cutting waste, enhancing prevention and wellness, installing electronic medical records and improving quality are merely 'lipstick' cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change," he wrote last year (Health Affairs Feb. 27, 2008)."
  
  "Savings, he writes, will require changing how doctors think about their patients: Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath too seriously, "as an imperative to do everything for the patient regardless of the cost or effects on others" (Journal of the American Medical Association, June 18, 2008)."
  
  "Yes, that's what patients want their doctors to do. But Emanuel wants doctors to look beyond the needs of their patients and consider social justice, such as whether the money could be better spent on somebody else."
  
  "Many doctors are horrified by this notion; they'll tell you that a doctor's job is to achieve social justice one patient at a time."
  
  "Emanuel, however, believes that "communitarianism" should guide decisions on who gets care. He says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled, not given to those "who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens . . . An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia" (Hastings Center Report, Nov.-Dec. '96)."
  
  "Translation: Don't give much care to a grandmother with Parkinson's or a child with cerebral palsy."
  
  See more at http://www.defendyourhealthcare.us/home.html
  
  

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  pizzaman7

  07/30/09 | Report as spam

  Anything but Government Run Care

  There seems to be some well qualified people who left comments here. I wanted to add a couple comments myself.
  
  I like this excerpt from this article: "Democrats hope it will be revenue-neutral." Translation: they have done no planning and it will not be revenue neutral. It will be good publicity that something gets passed and then the rubber hits the road and this turns into another unfunded entitlement program that will add to our out-of-control deficit.
  
  Who is going to play God ? We all have a right to live as long as we want. Don't give me this crap about "what is good for the community". If you have worked hard your whole life, exercised, ate healthy, etc, then you should reap the rewards and live life to its fullest...especially if you have been paying into the system.
  
  I am all for reform as long as certain common sense practices are followed. Congressman Paul Ryan has it right. He understands and is offering better options than the Democrats are.

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  grinrevere

  08/11/09 | Report as spam

  Cost Effective Healthcare Legislation

  Somehow this article and discussion has left out of the
  discussion that the house biill HR 676 which will finally be
  debated on the house floor and voted on. It covers everyone
  and is cost neutral for enhanced care through a medicare like
  system for everyone and includes medical, dental, vision,
  chiropractic, long term care and other benefits. The bill and
  details as well as analysis are on Physician's for a National
  Healthcare System. Studies found more people are satisfied
  with medicare than with their private insurance plans---
  understandably since over 60% of people go bankrupt for
  medical reasons and 75% of those HAD insurance (or thought
  they did until it didn't cover them adequately when they got a
  catastrophic illness.
  
  In addition, "Establishing a national single-payer style
  healthcare reform system would provide a major stimulus for the
  U.S. economy by creating 2.6 million new jobs, and infusing
  $317 billion in new business and public revenues, with another
  $100 billion in wages into the U.S. economy, according to the
  findings of a groundbreaking study released today. It may be
  viewed at www.CalNurses.org. The number of jobs created by
  a single-payer system, expanding and upgrading Medicare to
  cover everyone, parallels almost exactly the total job loss in
  2008."