Two thirds of 65 year olds will need some kind of long term care services in their lifetime and will need care for an average of about three years, which makes long term care an important aspect of a retirement plan.
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It is that period when many of us will need long-term services or supports.
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States may also offer long-term services and supports to people living in the community but must first get federal permission.
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This approach might not work very well for Medicaid patients who already are sick enough to require long term care services.
In effect, if it is too easy to borrow against your home when you are relatively young, you will have less equity when you really need it for long-term services.
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There is no doubt the U.S. has a long-run budget problem, and that we need to do a better job caring for the frail elderly who are chronically ill and need both medical care and long-term services.
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For a number of these organizations, CLASS was their principal motivation to support national health reform, and to them, health reform that did not address the need for long-term services and supports for persons with disabilities was not worthy of the name health reform.
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Medicaid is the largest single payer of long-term supports and services, funding almost half of all paid long-term care.
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That is, I hope, a first step toward solving the difficult challenge of financing long-term care services.
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The second creates a new national commission to develop a plan for better financing and delivery of long-term care services.
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And it has the potential to serve as a critical source of funding for the cost of long-term care services and supports.
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Those cuts specifically excluded Medicaid, including the one-third of Medicaid that funds long-term care services for the frail elderly and adults with disabilities.
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The study found that about 20 percent of residents are receiving Medicaid assistance for their long-term care services (but not for room and board).
About 70 percent of seniors will eventually require long-term care services in old age, and 20 percent will need this assistance for five years or more.
He ticks off big problems: a dearth of doctors who specialize in geriatrics, meager funding for prevention of diseases like Alzheimer's, and fragmented long-term care services.
Medicare did not pay for long-stay nursing home care, home health aides, or other long-term care services before this lawsuit, and it will not do so now.
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In the past few months, important events and circumstances have highlighted the need for an effective, sustainable way to finance the often-astronomical costs of long-term care services and supports.
So there is going to be some caregiver money, knowing that about 80 percent of long-term care services are really provided in communities by loved ones right now and they just need a little help.
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"Over the past few years we have been working together with our partners to make our public services simpler, better co-ordinated and focused on preventing long term pressure on our services and public finances, " he said.
Any future system should finance high-quality long-term supports and services that are well-integrated with medical care.
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Only about half of those who became Medicaid eligible had used any long-term supports and services.
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The all-too-often reality: long-term supports and services for an 85-year old widow with dementia.
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Medicaid provides long-term supports and services for seniors and people with disabilities, but only if they meet strict income and asset tests.
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All health boards are already looking at ways of reorganising their services long term, including the Betsi Cadwaladr board in north Wales.
In fact, the issue of long-term supports and services for the frail elderly and people with disabilities was almost entirely ignored by both parties.
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Slowly but surely, more people who receive Medicaid benefits for long-term supports and services are getting their care at home rather than in nursing facilities.
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Still, if control and independence are really your goals, the last thing you want to do is rely on Medicaid for your long-term supports and services.
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Just getting a bipartisan commission of Congress to acknowledge the importance of the challenges facing those receiving long-term supports and services and their caregivers would be a huge step forward.
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The existing system for funding paid long-term supports and services is built on a wobbly three-legged stool: low private savings, an underfunded Medicaid program, and a hobbled private long-term care insurance market.
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Under an agreement with the Obama Administration announced last week, the state will begin shifting both medical care and long-term supports and services to managed care companies in just seven months.
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