Left unchecked, America's long-term care financing crisis will devastate millions of American families.
The crisis in how we finance long-term care in this country is real, it is huge and we must deal with it. But make no mistake. This problem isn't about the great unseen "they" out there. It isn't just about both our country's seniors and younger disabled people. It's a problem that touches people of all ages, gender and races. It's about you – and your family. It's about all of us.
Long-term care encompasses a vast range of services-everything from a daughter who helps her mom at home, to the care a grandmother receives in a nursing home. The textbooks define long-term care as: the broad array of services and supports people need when they can no longer completely care for themselves. Long-term care services and supports include: help with bathing, dressing, or with household tasks like cooking and cleaning. Other services outside the home include adult day care; home health care; skilled nursing care; and more. These services and supports may be provided by a person's family members or by paid caregivers.
By the year 2020 12 million older Americans will need long-term care. Mindful of our nation's desperate need for a long-term care financing solution, AAHSA assembled a Finance Cabinet to recommend a model for future financing for long-term care. The cabinet was composed of AAHSA members with an understanding of the challenges seniors and younger disabled people across the nation face. A few salient points from their detailed report include:
- Needs are unmet. Only one in five individuals can afford private long-term care insurance. Many more are screened out because of pre-existing conditions. And even if everyone purchased the best private coverage he or she could afford, Medicaid costs would still triple by 2045.
- Costs are catastrophic for those who need extensive or lengthy care. In 2005, the average cost of a private room in a nursing home was $203 per day; the cost of home health aids averaged $19 per hour. Among those turning 65 today, 20 percent will need care for more than five years.
- The increasing burden on Medicaid is unsustainable. Medicaid costs for long-term care will double (constant dollars) by 2025 and increase five-fold by 2045.
- Costs on businesses. Employees who are unpaid caregivers for their loved ones cost U.S. businesses $36 billion annually in lost productivity.
Real-world Experiences. Realistic Solutions.
Our printable brochure summarizing the AAHSA Finance Cabinet's recommendations and explains how the cabinet and the experts they consulted reached consensus on advocating an national insurance model that promotes consumer choice, offers benefit options and benefit the public without creating unreasonable financial burdens.
We believe it is up to us, the leaders in services for the aging, to take up the challenge today and present a solution, or we will have failed in our mission and ignored our responsibilities
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