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As the historic baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, finding affordable long-term care is difficult.
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that “there's going to be a big storm in this country where there are a lot of people who can't take care of themselves.” Welfare Research Institute Policy Forum in Washington DC
When Suozzi was a child, all four of her grandparents lived with her family, who took care of them.
The experience inspired Suozzi's parents to buy long-term care insurance. Both of his parents lived into their 90s, he said, and these policies allowed them to stay at home.
Now, that same insurance is out of reach for many Americans.
“People can no longer afford long-term care insurance,” Suozzi said. “Insurance companies lost a lot of money when they first bet on this because they didn't take into account that many people will live much longer than the actuarial table suggests.”
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Meanwhile, nursing homes and Medicaid aren't equipped to deal with the problem, he said.
To address this, Suozzi said he plans to reintroduce a bill called the Home-based Senior Citizens' Welfare Insurance (WISH Act). The proposal calls on the federal government to create a catastrophic long-term care fund to allow older Americans to retire at home.
Suozzi last introduced a bill That version of the proposal called for making long-term care benefits available to people who have reached retirement age, are disabled, have a severe cognitive impairment, or are unable to perform at least two activities of daily living. Ta.
Like Social Security and Medicare, Americans must contribute to the program through payroll taxes to receive benefits.
Suozzi said Thursday that the amount of benefits he would receive would be about $3,600 to $4,000 a month. According to the 2021 proposal, this is based on the median cost paid for six hours of personal assistance per day.
Waiting periods for care are determined by income, with higher incomes delaying coverage longer.
“Hard selling” of tax increase
To be sure, the proposal could face hurdles in gaining support.
“The challenge is no one wants to raise taxes,” Suozzi said Thursday.
WA Care Foundation director Ben Begte told a separate long-term care debate on Thursday that it was “difficult” to tell people there was a compulsory tax on long-term care. Especially since not everyone needs such benefits. At the EBRI conference.
The WA Cares Fund is a public long-term care insurance program provided to workers in Washington State. This is funded by a 0.58% tax on employees' gross wages.
An estimated 7 out of 10 people will need long-term care at some point in their lives, Vegte said. But that often leaves people wondering about the other three out of 10 people and why they have to pay taxes for benefits they may never receive.
Over the next decade, Vegte said at least two or three states will try to create long-term care programs like Washington's. He said states considering the idea include California, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.
Once that happens, the private insurance industry will likely start offering complementary products, Vegte said.
“Addressing the costs and future crises associated with long-term care will require all of us,” Vegte said. “It's private industry, it's government, it's employers, it's family caregivers. Because we know the costs are not just monetary.”
