Question

Do you think that the financing of long-term care is appropriate? Why or why not? If not, what would you do to change our Nation’s long term care outlook?

Answer 1

At present, there is growing number of elderly people in the world. Long-term care (LTC) is thus becoming increasingly common and involves services that meet both medical and non-medical needs of the elderly. Such services intend to help people to live independently and securely as much as possible.

Currently, LTC is a considerable burden for the elderly and their care givers due to issues regarding its accessibility, quality, and more importantly the cost and affordability. Thus, the country is forced to address the financing of LTC. In the present scenario the finance and payment sources of LTC include:

• Personal funds like savings, pensions, etc.
• Government insurance schemes like Medicaid or Medicare.
• Insurance from private firms
• Veterans’ benefit
• Community social services for the elderly like palliative care.

Burden of expense of LTC is a cause of worry for both the elderly and his/her caregiver. A large portion of Americans are at the risk of financial hardships as a result of LTC needs. Medicare is the government health insurance program for most of the elderly population in the United States. But it does not cover for LTC for most of the beneficiaries. Unlike this, a similar program called Medicaid is an important financing system beneficial for LTC. But qualifying for Medicaid is difficult as it has requirements regarding income and asset eligibility. Most of the people hesitate to take up this owing to its cost and other aspects. Moreover, private insurances are also not affordable to many and they rather prefer unpaid care from family members instead.

Thus, financing LTC cannot be called appropriate with the current approach. Alternatives like social insurance, group insurance, and joint private-public benefits must be utilized in order to address the financing problem of LTC.

• Social security pension ensure adoption of mandatory social insurance which are funded through pay roll taxes. Benefits will be on the basis of aids and contributions made by the citizens of the country to the program rather than based on the need.
• Group insurance covers a group of people at a reduced cost. This is especially beneficial for employers working for a particular organization, members of a society, etc.
• Joint private-public partnership is useful in providing quality and timely public services with private funding. It allows in the effective management of public and private resources.

Therefore, all these schemes can prove to be beneficial and also address the issues of the present LTC outlook of the United States.