• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Donate Now
  • Sign Up

Center for Medicare Advocacy

Advancing Access to Medicare and Healthcare

  • Eligibility/Enrollment
  • Coverage/Appeals
    • Medicare Costs (2021)
    • Self Help Materials – Toolkits & More
  • Topics
    • Basic Introduction to Medicare
    • COVID-19 and Medicare
    • Medicare Costs (2021)
    • Home Health Care
    • Improvement Standard and Jimmo News
    • Nursing Home / Skilled Nursing Facility Care
    • Outpatient Observation Status
    • Part B
    • Part D / Prescription Drug Benefits
    • Medicare for People Under 65
    • Medicare “Reform”
    • All Other Topics
    • Resources
      • Infographics
  • Publications
    • CMA Alerts
    • Fact Sheets & Issue Briefs
    • Infographics
    • The Medicare Handbook
    • SNF Enforcement Newsletter
    • Elder Justice Newsletter
    • Medicare Facts & Fiction
    • Articles by Topic
  • Litigation
    • Litigation News
    • Cases
    • Litigation Archive
    • Amicus Curiae Activities
  • Newsroom
    • Press Releases
    • Editorials & Letters to the Editor
    • CMA Comments, Responses, and Letters
    • Medicare Facts & Fiction
    • CMA in the News
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • CMA FAQs
    • Annual Report
    • Personnel & Boards
    • The Center for Medicare Advocacy Founder’s Circle
    • Connecticut Dually Eligible Appeals Project
    • Ossen Medicare Outreach, Education and Advocacy Project
    • National Medicare Advocates Alliance
    • National Voices of Medicare Summit
    • CMA Webinars
    • Products & Services
    • Testimonials
    • Career, Fellowship & Internship Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • Support Our Work
    • Donate Now
    • Join the Center for Medicare Advocacy Founder’s Circle
    • Take Action
    • Share Your Health Care Story
    • Tell Congress to Protect Our Care
    • Listen to Medicare & Health Care Stories
    • Sign Up

Press Release – Alternative Recommendations from Long Term Care Commission Members, Including the Center’s Judith Stein

September 16, 2013

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

For Immediate Release:                                            
September 13, 2013                                                                

Five Members of Long Term Care Commission Release Alternative Recommendations to Fulfill Commission’s Congressional Mandate

Washington, DC – Five members of the Commission on Long Term Care shared this statement today outlining their reasons for issuing alternative recommendations on how Congress should address the challenges facing our country’s long-term services and supports (LTSS) system.

The five Commissioners include: Judith Stein, Founder & Executive Director, Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc.; Henry Claypool; Laphonza Butler, President, SEIU-United Long Term Care Workers; Lynnae Ruttledge; and Judy Feder, Urban Institute Fellow and Professor, Georgetown Public Policy Institute.

The Commission on Long Term Care was charged by Congress with developing recommendations for the establishment, implementation, and financing of a comprehensive, coordinated, and high-quality system that ensures the availability of long-term services and supports for individuals who depend on this system to live full and healthy lives.

The Commissioners recognize that the Commission and its staff put in significant time and effort studying this vital, but very complex, area of public policy. However, given the unusually compressed timeframe and the broad range of views among the Commissioners, the recommendations of the Commission do not fulfill its comprehensive charge.

“The need for extensive and expensive long-term services is a catastrophic risk for people both under and over age 65.  Today, neither private insurance nor public programs protect us against that risk.  Private insurance has demonstrated it can't, by itself, do the job,” said Judy Feder, Urban Institute Fellow and Professor, Georgetown Public Policy Institute. “A public program has to be the bedrock on which we build an effective LTSS financing system.”

“We are convinced that no real improvements to the current insufficient, disjointed array of LTSS and financing can be expected without committing significant resources, instituting federal requirements, and developing social insurance financing,” said Judith Stein, Founder & Executive Director, Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc. “The people I represent are crying out for a real LTSS system now.”

The Commissioners’ alternative recommendations follow below.

# # #

A Comprehensive Approach to Long-Term Services and Supports

Summary

Congress established the Long-term Care Commission in recognition of the current and increasing nationwide need for long-term services and supports (LTSS).  The statute establishing the Commission sets out our charge:

“The Commission shall develop a plan for the establishment, implementation, and financing of a comprehensive, coordinated, and high-quality system that ensures the availability of long-term services and supports for individuals in need of such services and supports, including elderly individuals, individuals with substantial cognitive or functional limitations, other individuals who require assistance to perform activities of daily living, and individuals desiring to plan for future long-term care needs.” [Emphasis added.][1]

The authors of this statement acknowledge the efforts of the entire Commission and staff. , given the unusually compressed timeframe for our work, the final report does not fulfill this charge.

We issue this statement to express our shared vision of what is necessary to meet Congress’s mandate to establish and finance a high-quality, comprehensive LTSS system for Americans who need such services. The authors’ vision is to create an inclusive LTSS system for people of all ages – a system that will meet individuals’ functional and cognitive support needs with quality care in the least restrictive setting. We are convinced that no real improvements to the current insufficient, disjointed array of LTSS and financing can be expected without committing significant resources, instituting federal requirements, and developing social insurance financing. 

 Accordingly, our recommendations follow. 

  1. To spread the risk for the costs of long-term services and supports as broadly as possible, provide benefits to people of all ages who need them, and allow individuals and families to meet their responsibilities, a public social insurance program that is easily understood and navigated must be established. That program could provide comprehensive benefits or a more limited package. But a social insurance program must be at the core of an effective LTSS financing system. A social insurance core would not eliminate the roles of private insurance or of family financing or caregiving. Rather it would make them more manageable.
  2. To ensure high-quality services for individuals and their families in all care settings, the law must assure that direct-care workers are paid a living wage, are well trained, and have opportunities for career advancement.
  3. To integrate family caregivers into a comprehensive LTSS system, public programs providing services to LTSS beneficiaries must appropriately engage family caregivers and address their needs.

While the nation moves to a comprehensive system for LTSS, and to supplement it as necessary, we recognize that improvements are needed in current programs. Among the improvements suggested by individual Commissioners are the following:

  • To meet the needs of those who qualify for Medicare, the current Medicare program must be adapted to reduce counterproductive, outdated and unreasonable barriers to outpatient therapies, home health and skilled nursing facility care.
  • To strengthen Medicaid, existing financial incentives to states for quality home- and community-based services must be extended and streamlined to make it easier to rebalance Medicaid LTSS. In addition, Medicaid’s benefits must be improved for people who rely on its services.
  • To provide new ways to access LTSS for persons with disabilities, tax-preferred savings accounts must be provided for people and their families who are not currently receiving LTSS through the Medicaid program, the Medicaid buy-in program for workers with modest earnings must be expanded, and a new program for workers with significant disabilities who have higher earnings must be piloted.

To speak with individual members of the Commission, please contact them directly:

Laphonza Butler United Long Term Care Workers: Scott Mann: Scott@bedrockstrategies.com

Judith Stein, Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc.: 860.456.7790; jstein@medicareadvocacy.org

Lynnae Ruttledge: Lynnae.Ruttledge@comcast.net

Judy Feder, Georgetown Public Policy Institute:  703.508.9447

 

[1] American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA, P.L. 112-240) §643(a)(1)

Filed Under: Article, Press Release Tagged With: LTC

Primary Sidebar

Easy Access to Understanding Medicare

The Center for Medicare Advocacy produces a range of informative materials on Medicare-related topics. Check them out:

  • Medicare Basics
  • CMA Alerts
  • CMA Webinars
  • Connecticut Info & Projects
  • Health Care Stories
  • Se habla Español

Sign Up for CMA Alerts

Jimmo v. Sebelius

Medicare covers skilled care to maintain or slow decline as well as to improve.

Improvement Isn’t Required. It’s the law!

Read more.

Medicare: Build Back Better

By prioritizing Medicare beneficiaries and the health systems that serve them, we can avoid drastic national consequences. The Center for Medicare Advocacy proposes a five-part plan that will make Medicare a bulwark against the worsening health and economic challenges facing the American people.

Learn more.

Latest Tweets

  • Special thanks from @CMAorg to @PowersLawFirm for the many years of ongoing support and for sponsoring our recent N… https://t.co/8z36yJHyQd, 12 hours ago
@CMAorg

Footer

Stay Connected:

  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap
  • Products & Services
  • Copyright/Privacy

© 2021 · Center for Medicare Advocacy