I’m deeply concerned that the American public, specially our nation’s elders, will be relying on our government to supply extended term care solutions they will never ever see. They’ll only see the “smoke and mirrors” of Overall health Care Reform.
Our nation’s seniors are the most vulnerable segment of the U.S. population vulnerable both well being smart and financially. They are silently discovering the savings they thought would be adequate is not sufficient. They are silently fearful of running out of money with no one to care for them as they come to be far more frail. The silence is about to turn out to be deafening.
Regrettably, when Well being Care Reform proudly announced New Lengthy Term Care Services, it discouraged numerous American’s from getting Extended Term Care Insurance coverage.
The New York Times reported on ‘Options Expand for Economical Long-Term Care’ THE NEW OLD AGE. The Linked Press announced ‘New Wellness Care Law Has Rewards for Seniors’. Point becoming, the casual reader was relieved to hear their government will “take care of them” when they have to have extended term care services. We now know that is not about to take place.
Fortunately our representatives in Washington found that Overall health Care Reforms answer to the issue of Long Term Care, “CLASS”, (Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act) legislation would have been fiscally unsound. $70 billion in premiums that was expected to be raised for the new “extended term care” program would have been counted as “deficit reduction”. The extended term care benefits it was intended to finance were assumed not to materialize in the first ten years. Nevertheless, that revenue was not accounted for anyplace in the legislation.
The new legislation proposed to “trim” $463 billion from Medicare. But Medicare is at present possessing difficulty balancing its books nowadays. But, why does the overall health care bill tell us Medicare can operate far more cheaply going forward devoid of the accompanying reforms?
Our national media gave enormous fanfare to the CLASS ACT when it passed. Regrettably the media has offered the CLASS ACT’s demise little attention. Now what?
Projections show that the federal deficit is anticipated to exceed $700 billion annually more than the subsequent decade. This basically will double the national and $900 billion represents interest on prior debt. Would Blood doctor in Austin of any big corporation in the United States let the organization he worked for to finish up in this type of financial position? Totally not.
Our officials in Congress have been elected to safeguard the very best interests of the American persons. “Robbing Peter to spend Paul”, and after again printing a lot more currency, has become our government’s mantra for the future. But the magnitude of the mismanagement of America’s purse strings has now reached an unconscionable state.
The United States of America can not continue to mismanage its economic future. Future Congresses will have to deliver a multitude of future reforms and, regrettably, history tells us THAT will never ever occur. Proposals for financing wellness reform were primarily based on a lot more “smoke and mirrors”. The “Cadillac” tax is scheduled to commence in 2018.
The wellness care legislation that has been forced on each and every and just about every one particular of us is recognized to be fiscally unsound. Exactly where do we go from here? It really is also straightforward to point the finger at the President and his administration. Yet Congress owns the duty of passing Wellness Care Legislation. And THAT is the difficulty.
The 535 voting members of Congress shared the responsibility equally. If one particular clear considering, intelligent, honorable Congressman had the complete responsibility for Well being Care Reform, he or she would not have forced a fiscally unsound Well being Care Reform Bill down our throats.
Now let’s once more evaluate how Overall health Care Reform will work against our senior citizens.
A most recent government report identified that in 2000 there have been 1.8 million offered nursing property beds. As the year 2010 came to a close, there had been 1.7 million nursing house beds a net five % reduction in obtainable beds. And, there are no new nursing houses being built.
Now there’s less than 1.five million Americans confined to nursing houses. Reportedly ten percent of these nursing houses are operating below bankruptcy protection. It’s properly identified that most of these facilities are understaffed and lots of never have competent assistance.
Subsequent, let’s look at that the Alzheimer’s Association tells us the likelihood of establishing Alzheimer’s following age 85 is 50 percent. By 2030, they inform us that the number of men and women age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s disease is estimated to attain 7.7 million, a 50 percent increase from the 5.2 million age 65 and older currently affected.
The logical query I have to ask is “if we cannot take adequate care of 1.five million persons right now, how can we possibly take care of 7.7 million men and women in 2030?” We can not. Extra merely put, when you or your spouse or your parent has Alzheimer’s, there is no location for them to go. Not to be cruel, but if you ever feel for a moment about taking in an aged parent with Alzheimer’s into your household, please assume again. Ask any caregiver who’s been by way of it. It really is Guaranteed to destroy any families’ peace of thoughts and harmony.
Why aren’t our political leaders actively working on options? Where’s the outcry? Regrettably our political leaders only align themselves with solvable problems.
America’s seniors became more hopeful reading that Well being Reform will assist them with added Lengthy Term Care solutions. And we now know THAT is not going to occur. There are no plans in spot to enable our nation’s seniors think they will get the comfort and dignity of adequate extended term care solutions. What’s worse is the silence shared by all our political leaders. The silence is now deafening.