The Affordable Care Act was supposed to include much needed coverage for long-term care expenses, many people did not know this. The enacting legislation was called the Community Living Assistance Services and supported ACT. What happened to an initiative that was meant to address what is going to be a huge financial burden for families as the population ages? It isn’t classy, in fact it’s sad.
The CLASS Act envisioned an insurance program administered by the federal government that would cover long-term care. Currently, Medicaid is only federal program that extensively deals with these services. The down fall is that in order to qualify for the benefit, you have to be pretty poor. In most situations, Medicare does not cover long-term care for individuals who need assistance with daily activities such as eating, dressing and bathing. Individuals with severe cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer’s disease also do not receive long-term care benefits.
Employees who decided to participate in the CLASS Act program would have paid premiums through payroll deductions. All participation would have been voluntary so the participants, not the taxpayers would have covered the cost. A government sponsored payment mechanism would be established for the individuals who were self-employed or whose employer did not want to participate.
The Obama administration abandoned the idea because there was great concern that the voluntary nature wouldn’t make the program actuarially sound. The fear was that the people who needed the insurance the most would pay but others who didn’t would opt out, making the premiums too high. If the program became financially unstable, there would have been great pressure for the federal government to bail it out.
I suspect many people didn’t know that the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was supposed to include much-needed coverage for long-term care.
Ironically, the enacting legislation was called the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act. But what happened to an initiative that was meant to address what is certainly going to be a huge financial burden for families as the population ages isn’t classy at all. It’s sad.
The CLASS Act envisioned an insurance program administered by the federal government that would cover long-term care. Medicaid is now the only federal program that extensively deals with these services. But to qualify for the benefit, you have to be pretty poor. Medicare, except in very limited situations, does not cover long-term care, which includes assistance with daily activities such as eating, dressing and bathing, or help with someone who has a severe cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Under the CLASS Act, premiums would have been paid through payroll deductions by employees who decided to participate in the program. Participation by workers would have been voluntary. So participants, not the taxpayers, would have covered the cost. If you were self-employed or your employer chose not to participate, you could have participated through a government-sponsored payment mechanism.
I’m speaking in the past tense, because there is no more CLASS Act. The Obama administration abandoned the idea, because there was great concern that the voluntary nature wouldn’t make the program actuarially sound. There was fear that the people who needed the insurance the most would pay, but others who didn’t would opt out. Premiums in turn would be too high. If the insurance program became financially unstable, there would have been great pressure for the federal government to bail it out.
So what was put in its place? A commission.
The commission recently issued its report and recommendations on the looming long-term-care crisis. The commissioners, at least those who voted to deliver the report to Congress, concluded that the long-term services and support system as it currently operates in this country “is not sufficient for current or future needs.”
The report was passed by a 9-6 vote. Five commissioners were so dissatisfied with what was put forth that they issued a separate statement about why they didn’t vote to support the report. Judy Feder, who served on the commission and is an Urban Institute fellow and a professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, is not happy.
The Affordable Care Act is expected to usher in huge changes to the nation’s health care system. Part of the reform should have and still needs to include a solution to deal with the looming long-term-care crisis.
A commission was put in place of the CLASS Act and they recently issued it’s report along with recommendations on the looming long-term care crisis. The commissioner concluded that long-term services and support system as it currently operates in this country “is not sufficient for current or future needs”. This is according to an article published in recordnet.com. The Affordable Care Act is expected to usher in huge changes to the nation’s health care system but part of the reform still needs to include a solution to deal with the looming long-term-care crisis.