The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) released a first set of recommendations that call for increasing access to the private insurance market, but 2016 is not the year that Slome expects long-term care reform to move forward.
“Long-term care reform depends on who will be elected president, the new Congress and what the economy will be like as a result and we won’t know that until after the presidential elections,” Slome said.
BPC initiatives call for increasing access to the private insurance market, improving public programs such as Medicaid and pursuing a catastrophic insurance approach for individuals with significant long-term care needs like Alzheimer’s or a debilitating physical impairment.
These proposals were developed by former U.S. Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, along with Bill Frist, another former U.S. Senate majority leader; former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson; and Alice Rivlin, former director of the Office of Management and Budget. They aim to address the needs of America’s seniors, and specifically target middle- and lower-income individuals and families.
“Today, families and caregivers are becoming impoverished by the financial demands of long-term care,” said Daschle, a BPC co-founder. “Since there is no single, comprehensive solution to solve this unsustainable situation, our strategy calls for a combination of actions that could help ease the extraordinary financial burdens Americans are facing.”
If the BPC has its way, these retirement long-term care policies would be sold on federal and state health insurance exchanges.
But Slome is skeptical. “This was already approved as part of the Affordable Care Act and the Obama Administration abandoned it because they couldn’t price it in a way that worked. So this will be Son of Obamacare and if it can get approved, it’s terrific,” he said.