How will you pay for long-term care?
— from Rep. Jeff Morris —
More than 10,000 people in the US turn 65 every day, according to the federal Department of Health and Human Services, and the department anticipates our elderly population will grow from 13 percent today to 20 percent in 2030. We are riding the crest of the Silver Tsunami.
As we age, the majority of us will require some sort of assistance for regular, daily activities. Getting to the grocery store or doctor’s appointments, cooking or cleaning around the house, or even assistance bathing or following important medication schedules — these are all activities that might become more difficult as we age. I know there are many people in our communities either caring for an elderly loved one, or facing the difficult choices so common with long-term care.
The costs can be staggering. In the vast majority of cases, Medicare will not cover long-term care. Medicaid does cover such care, but only if you meet certain low-income criteria. For some families, taking care of an aging parent or relative is financially possible – but for far too many families in Washington it’s a significant burden. That’s why last week I voted for the Long Term Care Trust Act.
This legislation addresses the financial sacrifices families in Washington are experiencing today by creating a new social insurance program – through a payroll deduction – to help with the cost of long-term care as the “age wave” hits our state. The Long Term Care Trust Act gives families a little breathing room as they take care of the ones they love. This investment in our grandparents, parents, and ourselves brings peace of mind and security for all needing long-term services and supportive care.
Thank you Representative Morris. This is a good start heading for Washington Healthcare for ALL. Please support the Medicare for all bill as it will help ALL residents of Wa. Working to make life better for all. healthcareforwa.org
These schemes work only if the government acts honorably and honestly.
Social Security is in trouble today because our government did not act honorably and honestly.
Social Security was created as a trust fund, reserved exclusively to pay out pensions from earnings and continuing income.
However, President Johnson looted the Social Security trust fund in order to pay for his “Guns and Butter” scheme, supposed to provide both welfare and funding for the Vietnam War at the same time.
Thus, Social Security was forcibly converted from its trust-fund origin into the larcenous Ponzi Scheme that we know today.
Do you trust our government to act honorably and honestly, when it comes to money?
Once again, our intentions are noble and well-intended, but once again, we must look at the track record of other similar government entities, and think critically. Social Security’s “Lock Box”, VA’s inabilities, governmental housing projects, environmental regulatory agencies at cross-purposes, federal regulators challenged by sanctuary states/cities/cannabis capitalists . . . And with each new governmental entity come bureaucratic realities (office, personnel, payroll, training, meetings, employee benefits) which themselves may likely become more of a priority than their original mission. Especially when those federal employees become unionized!
Rep. Morris, thank you, sincerely, but I strongly suspect that the creation of another Office to administer another critical social conondrum is a tried and true recipe for more complexity, and fodder for stand-up comedians.
Would that we, especially since Depression days, had the basic economic sense and historic literacy to be more realistic. Maybe something along the lines of a “Health Savings Account” for Long-Term Care would be a better place to start, keeping the focus local, not Federal?