U.S. Must Overhaul Federal Long-Term Care Safety Net, Opinion Piece States

Main Category: Seniors / Aging
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance;  Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP;  Public Health
Article Date: 15 Sep 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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Although the "good news" is that U.S. residents are living longer, the "bad news" is that "our nation's financial and health care systems are woefully unprepared for them" and "neither presidential candidate seems to be giving it much thought," Stuart Shapiro, president of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, writes in a Philadelphia Inquirer opinion piece.

Shapiro notes that a recent poll found that 85% of U.S. residents mistakenly believe that Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare or their current health insurance will cover the costs of long-term care. As a result, the U.S. "is heading toward a fiscal tsunami unless it acts now," and how "we pay for the long-term care needs of 80 million baby boomers ... promises to be one of our nation's most serious social and fiscal challenges," according to Shapiro. He continues that neither Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) nor Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) "has a serious plan to stabilize our retirement foundation and provide a true safety net for the elderly."

Shapiro writes that the "solution to our long-term care crisis" will "involve monumentally more than just shoring up the three key retirement pillars: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid," and "cannot ... be just another costly government-funded mandate." According to Shapiro, "now is the time for the federal government to gradually shift from acting as the major payer for long-term care to helping individuals save and invest for their own long-term care, using a variety of market-based mechanisms that enable compounding interest and time to work for us, not against us."

Shapiro states, "Bipartisan reform of decades-old programs -- which were designed in a different era to solve fundamentally different historical challenges -- is not an option. It is a necessity." He concludes, "It's time both presidential aspirants stop sidestepping this domestic priority and start stepping up with answers" (Shapiro, Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/12).

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