One State’s Quest to Introduce Long-Term Care Benefits
- 6 years ago
One State’s Quest to Introduce Long-Term Care Benefits
Eligible adults were to receive $100 a day from the revenue raised by the tax, for up to 365 days — not typically enough to pay the full cost of nursing home care
but potentially helpful in keeping less affluent older people from obliterating their savings and ending up on Medicaid.
A state, in this case Washington, was working to pass a bill
that would institute a new payroll tax to help cover the cost of a much-needed service: long-term care in a nursing home, in a personal residence or elsewhere in the local community.
Given that states help pay for Medicaid, legislators are increasingly worried about the growing number of older residents, many of whom
don’t even have enough money saved for a comfortable retirement, let alone nursing home bills that can sometimes top $100,000 per year.
“The two people who represent AARP here, neither one had darkened my door,” Mr. Johnson said.
Medicaid covers at least part of the bill for 62 percent of people who live in a nursing home.
“The bill needed too much work, and we had too many questions and not enough answers,” said Cathy MacCaul, AARP’s advocacy director in Washington.
Eligible adults were to receive $100 a day from the revenue raised by the tax, for up to 365 days — not typically enough to pay the full cost of nursing home care
but potentially helpful in keeping less affluent older people from obliterating their savings and ending up on Medicaid.
A state, in this case Washington, was working to pass a bill
that would institute a new payroll tax to help cover the cost of a much-needed service: long-term care in a nursing home, in a personal residence or elsewhere in the local community.
Given that states help pay for Medicaid, legislators are increasingly worried about the growing number of older residents, many of whom
don’t even have enough money saved for a comfortable retirement, let alone nursing home bills that can sometimes top $100,000 per year.
“The two people who represent AARP here, neither one had darkened my door,” Mr. Johnson said.
Medicaid covers at least part of the bill for 62 percent of people who live in a nursing home.
“The bill needed too much work, and we had too many questions and not enough answers,” said Cathy MacCaul, AARP’s advocacy director in Washington.