Retirement News : Seniors : Our state's long-term care crisis needs much more than a hearing

Our state's long-term care crisis needs much more than a hearing

Date Added: 15-11-2005

Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington State launched a new Long-Term Care Task Force.  But some people came away disatisfied.

Read the excerpt below.

Seattle Times - United States

Monday, November 14, 2005 - By Liz Taylor - Special to The Seattle Times
 
I'm not an early riser; in fact, I'm allergic to anything serious happening before, oh, 8:30 a.m.

So, when I got up last week at 5:30 a.m., made the five-hour round-trip commute to Olympia and sat through a day of testimony, all unpaid, you know I thought it was important.

The event was the opening of the governor's Long-Term Care Task Force, a new initiative "to develop recommendations on public and private mechanisms for financing long-term care, particularly in rural communities," said Gov. Christine Gregoire, and to manage or prevent chronic diseases to reduce future long-term care costs.

I made the same trip last spring to testify in its favor, so I wanted to see how things were going.

To say I was disappointed is an understatement.

Long-term care costs are increasing rapidly, and the Puget Sound area has the fourth-highest costs in the nation. Medicaid (for the poor) is its largest source of public funding, as well as the fastest-growing segment of most state budgets. An estimated 50 percent of our state's population will need long-term care someday. The number of people 65-plus is expected to increase by 84 percent in the next 15 years — the highest rate of projected increase in the nation.

Read the entire article:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2002619346_liztaylor14.html