The Smoke and Mirrors of Health Care Reform for the Elderly

implement safety in your workplace ‘m deeply concerned that the American public, in particular our nation’s elders, will be relying on our government to present long term care solutions they’ll under no circumstances see. They will only see the “smoke and mirrors” of Well being Care Reform.

Our nation’s seniors are the most vulnerable segment of the U.S. population vulnerable both health wise and financially. They’re silently discovering the savings they thought would be enough is not adequate. They’re silently fearful of operating out of dollars with no one particular to care for them as they come to be a lot more frail. The silence is about to come to be deafening.

Regrettably, when Well being Care Reform proudly announced New Extended Term Care Services, it discouraged a lot of American’s from getting Long Term Care Insurance coverage.

The New York Times reported on ‘Options Expand for Very affordable Long-Term Care’ THE NEW OLD AGE. The Associated Press announced ‘New Wellness Care Law Has Advantages for Seniors’. Point becoming, the casual reader was relieved to hear their government will “take care of them” when they require long term care services. We now know that is not about to happen.

Thankfully our representatives in Washington discovered that Wellness Care Reforms answer to the trouble of Long Term Care, “CLASS”, (Community Living Help Solutions and Supports Act) legislation would have been fiscally unsound. $70 billion in premiums that was expected to be raised for the new “extended term care” system would have been counted as “deficit reduction”. The lengthy term care positive aspects it was intended to finance were assumed not to materialize in the initial ten years. Having said that, that revenue was not accounted for anywhere in the legislation.

The new legislation proposed to “trim” $463 billion from Medicare. But Medicare is at the moment possessing problems balancing its books today. However, why does the well being care bill inform us Medicare can operate more cheaply going forward with no the accompanying reforms?

Our national media gave huge fanfare to the CLASS ACT when it passed. Unfortunately the media has given the CLASS ACT’s demise tiny interest. Now what?

Projections show that the federal deficit is anticipated to exceed $700 billion annually more than the next decade. This primarily will double the national and $900 billion represents interest on previous debt. Would the CFO of any major corporation in the United States allow the business he worked for to finish up in this type of economic position? Totally not.

Our officials in Congress have been elected to safeguard the finest interests of the American people today. “Robbing Peter to spend Paul”, and once once more printing far more currency, has become our government’s mantra for the future. However the magnitude of the mismanagement of America’s purse strings has now reached an unconscionable state.

The United States of America can’t continue to mismanage its economic future. Future Congresses will have to provide a multitude of future reforms and, regrettably, history tells us THAT will by no means come about. Proposals for financing overall health reform had been based on additional “smoke and mirrors”. The “Cadillac” tax is scheduled to start in 2018.

The well being care legislation that has been forced on every single and just about every 1 of us is known to be fiscally unsound. Where do we go from right here? It is as well simple to point the finger at the President and his administration. However Congress owns the duty of passing Overall health Care Legislation. And THAT is the challenge.

The 535 voting members of Congress shared the responsibility equally. If 1 clear pondering, intelligent, honorable Congressman had the complete duty for Health Care Reform, he or she would not have forced a fiscally unsound Health Care Reform Bill down our throats.

Now let’s once again evaluate how Wellness Care Reform will perform against our senior citizens.

A most recent government report identified that in 2000 there were 1.eight million out there nursing dwelling beds. As the year 2010 came to a close, there had been 1.7 million nursing property beds a net five % reduction in obtainable beds. And, there are no new nursing properties getting constructed.

Now there is significantly less than 1.5 million Americans confined to nursing homes. Reportedly 10 % of these nursing houses are operating beneath bankruptcy protection. It really is well identified that most of these facilities are understaffed and many do not have competent assistance.

Next, let’s think about that the Alzheimer’s Association tells us the likelihood of creating Alzheimer’s after age 85 is 50 percent. By 2030, they inform us that the quantity of individuals age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s disease is estimated to reach 7.7 million, a 50 % improve from the 5.2 million age 65 and older currently impacted.

The logical question I need to ask is “if we cannot take sufficient care of 1.5 million men and women today, how can we possibly take care of 7.7 million people in 2030?” We can not. Extra just place, when you or your spouse or your parent has Alzheimer’s, there is no spot for them to go. Not to be cruel, but if you ever believe for a moment about taking in an aged parent with Alzheimer’s into your home, please believe once again. Ask any caregiver who’s been by way of it. It really is Assured to destroy any families’ peace of mind and harmony.

Why are not our political leaders actively functioning on options? Where’s the outcry? Regrettably our political leaders only align themselves with solvable issues.

America’s seniors became much more hopeful reading that Overall health Reform will support them with added Extended Term Care solutions. And we now know THAT is not going to come about. There are no plans in place to support our nation’s seniors feel they’ll get the comfort and dignity of adequate long term care services. What is worse is the silence shared by all our political leaders. The silence is now deafening.