The Smoke and Mirrors of Health Care Reform for the Elderly

I’m deeply concerned that the American public, particularly our nation’s elders, will be relying on our government to offer extended term care solutions they’ll never 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 each health smart and financially. The Best diet plans to loss weight fastly discovering the savings they thought would be enough is not sufficient. They are silently fearful of running out of income with no a single to care for them as they come to be additional frail. The silence is about to turn into deafening.

Regrettably, when Health Care Reform proudly announced New Lengthy Term Care Services, it discouraged numerous American’s from buying Lengthy Term Care Insurance coverage.

The New York Occasions reported on ‘Options Expand for Cost-effective Long-Term Care’ THE NEW OLD AGE. The Linked Press announced ‘New Health Care Law Has Positive aspects for Seniors’. Point being, the casual reader was relieved to hear their government will “take care of them” when they want lengthy term care solutions. We now know that is not about to occur.

Luckily our representatives in Washington found that Wellness Care Reforms answer to the issue of Extended Term Care, “CLASS”, (Neighborhood Living Help Solutions and Supports Act) legislation would have been fiscally unsound. $70 billion in premiums that was expected to be raised for the new “long term care” plan would have been counted as “deficit reduction”. The lengthy term care advantages it was intended to finance were assumed not to materialize in the very first 10 years. However, that cash was not accounted for anyplace in the legislation.

The new legislation proposed to “trim” $463 billion from Medicare. However Medicare is currently having difficulty balancing its books these days. However, why does the well being care bill inform us Medicare can operate additional cheaply going forward with no the accompanying reforms?

Our national media gave huge fanfare to the CLASS ACT when it passed. Sadly the media has offered the CLASS ACT’s demise small attention. Now what?

Projections show that the federal deficit is anticipated to exceed $700 billion annually more than the subsequent decade. This essentially will double the national and $900 billion represents interest on prior debt. Would the CFO of any big corporation in the United States permit the enterprise he worked for to finish up in this kind of economic position? Definitely not.

Our officials in Congress have been elected to safeguard the most effective interests of the American men and women. “Robbing Peter to pay Paul”, and after once again printing far more currency, has turn into our government’s mantra for the future. Yet 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 monetary future. Future Congresses will have to provide a multitude of future reforms and, regrettably, history tells us THAT will by no means take place. Proposals for financing health reform had been based on additional “smoke and mirrors”. The “Cadillac” tax is scheduled to commence in 2018.

The well being care legislation that has been forced on every and every one of us is identified to be fiscally unsound. Where do we go from here? It’s also quick to point the finger at the President and his administration. But Congress owns the duty of passing Wellness Care Legislation. And THAT is the issue.

The 535 voting members of Congress shared the duty equally. If a single clear pondering, intelligent, honorable Congressman had the whole duty for Well being Care Reform, he or she would not have forced a fiscally unsound Wellness Care Reform Bill down our throats.

Now let’s again evaluate how Wellness Care Reform will function against our senior citizens.

A most recent government report identified that in 2000 there had been 1.eight million available nursing house beds. As the year 2010 came to a close, there were 1.7 million nursing dwelling beds a net 5 percent reduction in offered beds. And, there are no new nursing houses becoming built.

Today there is much less than 1.five million Americans confined to nursing properties. Reportedly ten percent of these nursing properties are operating beneath bankruptcy protection. It really is effectively recognized that most of these facilities are understaffed and quite a few never have competent aid.

Subsequent, let’s look at that the Alzheimer’s Association tells us the likelihood of creating Alzheimer’s after age 85 is 50 %. By 2030, they tell us that the number of individuals age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s illness is estimated to reach 7.7 million, a 50 % enhance from the five.2 million age 65 and older currently affected.

The logical query I have to ask is “if we cannot take sufficient care of 1.five million individuals right now, how can we possibly take care of 7.7 million people in 2030?” We can not. Extra simply place, when you or your spouse or your parent has Alzheimer’s, there is no spot for them to go. Not to be cruel, but if you ever consider for a moment about taking in an aged parent with Alzheimer’s into your residence, please feel once more. Ask any caregiver who’s been through it. It really is Guaranteed to destroy any families’ peace of thoughts and harmony.

Why aren’t our political leaders actively functioning on options? Where’s the outcry? Regrettably our political leaders only align themselves with solvable issues.

America’s seniors became extra hopeful reading that Wellness Reform will enable them with added Long Term Care services. And we now know THAT is not going to take place. There are no plans in spot to support our nation’s seniors feel they’ll acquire the comfort and dignity of adequate long term care solutions. What’s worse is the silence shared by all our political leaders. The silence is now deafening.

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