Medicaid’s ability to cover older Americans at a time of their lives when chronic conditions and other health issues typically emerge took a big leap forward with passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Max Richtman via The Hill.
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With their deadline fast approaching, Senate Republicans’ rush to repeal and replace Obamacare remains as unpopular as ever with the public.
via VOX.
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It’s no shock to us that the public’s opinion of Graham-Cassidy is so low.
The health care bill would:
- Jeopardize long-term care and other supportive services by restructuring Medicaid into per capita caps or block grants.
- End Medicaid expansion, which will take away health coverage from 11 million Americans, including low-income older adults under the age of 65.
- Drive up seniors’ out-of-pocket costs by repealing the ACA’s tax credit and cost-sharing subsidies.
- Allow insurance carriers to:
- Charge certain enrollees with pre-existing conditions thousands of dollars more than healthier individuals.
- Pick and choose which essential health benefits – such as prescription drugs, chronic disease management and maternity care – their plans will cover. Without the essential benefits requirement, health plans may not cover chemotherapy for cancer patients or insulin for diabetics.
[Senate Healthcare bill would give] The top 0.1 percent would receive an average tax cut of nearly $250,000. By comparison, a middle-income household would see a meager $280 in tax relief. There is something cruel and immoral about imperiling long term care for needy seniors while doling out huge tax cuts to those at the top of the economic ladder.
[Graham-Cassidy] Jeopardize long-term care and other supportive services by restructuring Medicaid into per capita caps or block grants. Middle class Americans often rely on Medicaid for long-term services and supports when they exhaust their savings. Nearly two-thirds of all nursing home residents’ care is financed in part by Medicaid. In addition, Medicaid provides home and community-based services that allow seniors to stay in their homes.
Taking care of the aging population is a crisis in the making, and no one — not families, not government programs and not the health care workforce — is prepared for it.
The big picture: Providing health care to aging Baby Boomers will strain Medicare’s finances, but the problem is even bigger than that.
Long-term care — the kind of services typically performed in a nursing home or by a home health aide — largely falls through the cracks of both public and private health insurance, saddling seniors and their families with financial and emotional burdens they often didn’t anticipate or plan for.
via Axios.
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America’s long-term care crisis is worsening.
Long term care is something most of us will need as we grow older…
…Unfortunately, this type of care is extremely expensive, and for many Americans, downright unaffordable. Most seniors simply don’t have the average $100,000 a year for a nursing home, $45,000 for assisted living, or $33,000 for in-home care…
…With millions of seniors and their families struggling to acquire — or provide — much-needed long term care, the time to act is now.
Some services needed by seniors, e.g. long-term care, are covered by Medicaid, not Medicare.
via Kaiser Health News.
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The latest report from the Congressional Budget Office confirms that millions of seniors will be hurt by the so-called Senate GOP health care bill. The numbers don’t lie. The ‘Better Care Reconciliation Act’ is not a healthcare bill at all. It is a tax windfall for the rich and pharmaceutical companies – paid for by gutting the Medicaid program, which covers more than 60% of long-term care costs for our nation’s seniors.
More from our statement here.
Long term care is something most of us will need as we grow older.
We might develop chronic diseases, mobility issues, Alzheimer’s or other conditions that prevent us from fully caring for ourselves. (Long term care includes everything from assisted living to skilled nursing facilities to in-home care.) According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, 52% of adults reaching age 65 today will require long-term assistance with daily activities such as eating, dressing, and bathing during their senior years.
Unfortunately, this type of care is extremely expensive, and for many Americans, downright unaffordable. Most seniors simply don’t have the average $100,000 a year for a nursing home, $45,000 for assisted living, or $33,000 for in-home care.
Read more from our new op-ed by clicking here.
When it comes to Medicaid for long term care, we encounter many questions. It is common for families to assume that they do not qualify for long term care Medicaid when in fact, they could. Even more commonly, families attempt to plan for their future long term care by acting on rumors and incorrect advice. The purpose of this article is to provide a general overview with the intent that once the reader is armed with the basic knowledge, he or she will not make the same mistakes as so many of the people who came before them.
For more information on Medicaid, please visit our policy section by clicking here.
April is Medicaid Awareness Month, but many Americans are truly unaware of what the program does for seniors. Medicaid is typically viewed as a health insurance program for the poor, which, of course, it is. But it also provides crucial supports for older Americans. Medicaid covers nearly 7 million seniors and more than 8.5 million “near seniors” aged 50-64. One in five Medicare beneficiaries (known as “dual eligibles”) also have Medicaid coverage to help pay premiums and co-pays.
Many people don’t realize that Medicaid helps millions of seniors to pay for long-term care — in skilled nursing facilities as well as in-home and community-based care. In fact, Medicaid pays for more than 50 percent of long-term care nationwide. The program covers 6 in 10 nursing home residents. At an average annual cost of $82,000 (nearly three times most seniors’ annual incomes) long-term care would simply be out of reach for millions of elderly Americans if it weren’t for Medicaid.
“Seniors often need services from Medicaid that are not covered by Medicare,” says Rebecca Vallas, VP of the Poverty Program at the Center for American Progress. “These services include assistance with bathing and dressing, preparing meals, and many other activities of daily living.” Vallas explains that Medicaid “allows millions of seniors to age in place, to stay with their families and in their communities.”
Read more from this op-ed by clicking here.
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure becomes the first black woman to lead the agency that oversees #Medicare and #Medicaid. She is a major improvement over President Trump’s CMS administrator, who undermined Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/25/us/politics/chiquita-brooks-lasure-medicare-medicaid.html @CMSGov