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Meeting Ends with Recommendations on Long-Term Care for White ...

Date Added: 21-04-2005

April 20, 2005 – The two-day “Long Term Care Min-Conference” ended today with official policy recommendations for the long-term care discussions of the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, which is scheduled to open in October. Held once every ten years, the conference is designed as a catalyst for the development and enhancement of national, state and local aging policies.

"In eight months, the leading edge of the nation's 78 million baby boomers will begin to turn 60," commented Dorcas Hardy, policy chairman of the White House Conference on Aging. "This 'coming of age' amplifies the urgent need for a balanced, integrated national long term care policy to meet the demands of a diverse older population that largely desires quality, individual choice, access and affordability. I commend the planners of the 2005 WHCoA Mini-Conference on Long Term Care for jump-starting a national conversation on how Americans will plan for and fund their own longevity."

Over the next 30 years, the number of Americans over the age of 65 - and the proportion of those individuals older than 85 - is expected to double. Soaring costs and rising demand for long term care services could deplete personal savings and exhaust government entitlement programs. The challenge is broader than delivery of healthcare. There is also a strain on long-term service providers and family caregivers. Additionally:

Nearly half of all Americans will need long term care at some point in their lives. One in five over age 50 is at risk of needing it in the next 12 months;

Only seven percent of all private industry employees are offered long term care insurance as a voluntary benefit;

By the year 2030, Medicaid's nursing home expenditures could reach $134 billion a year - up 360 percent from the year 2000;

Two visits a day by a home health aide to help with bathing, dressing and household chores can cost $2500 a month. If skilled help such as physical therapy is needed, the expense is greater.

The recommendations that came out of the conference dialogue sessions will form the basis of a comprehensive national long term care policy which will be presented to the Policy Committee of the White House Conference on Aging.

"Our challenge today is to make sure long-term care services are flexible and able to meet the different needs of a modern health care system," said Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. "Open forums like this one encourage dialogue between many stakeholders as we work to improve access and quality."

Arthur Miller, who moderated the Socratic Dialogue segment of the conference commented, "I'm honored to have been asked to moderate this panel. As an older American myself, I am well aware of the dimension and gravity of the problem of long term health care. It's imperative that our nation come to grips with it."

Among the thought leaders participating in the conference were renowned Harvard Law School Professor Arthur Miller, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Administrator Mark McClellan, and White House Conference on Aging Chairman Dorcas Hardy.

Additional speakers during the two-day event included Sen. Larry Craig, (R-ID), chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and WHCoA Policy Committee Member; Josefina Carbonell, Assistant Secretary for Aging, Department of Health and Human Services; Mike Hunter, executive vice president and COO, American Council of Life Insurers; Todd Smith, American Health Care Association & National Center for Assisted Living; Karen Ignagni, president & CEO, America's Health Insurance Plans; Rep. Ben Cardin (D-MD); Henry Claypool, senior advisor, Office of Employment Support Programs; Hal Daub, AHCA/NCAL; Susan Dentzer, the NewsHour; Val Halamandaris, National Association for Home Care and Hospice; Ruben King-Shaw, UBC Solutions (Former CMS Deputy Administrator); Carol Levine, United Hospital Fund & Director of the Families Healthcare Project; Rep. Jim Nussle (R- IA), chairman of House Budget Committee; John Rother, AARP; Buck Stinson, Genworth Financial; Gerry Hudson, SEIU Ex. VP for Long Term Care.

Planning committee members include AARP, American Council of Life Insurers, American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living, America's Health Insurance Plans, The National Alliance for Caregiving and the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. Their statements are below.

For More Information:

http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Politics/5-04-20LongTermCareRecs.htm