Long-Term Care Needs Changes, Officials Say

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — One of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s legacies in the new health care law, intended to allow the chronically ill and people with disabilities to continue living in their homes, is too costly to survive without major changes, Obama administration officials now say.

Republican lawmakers, who have vowed to repeal the health care law, cite the administration’s acknowledgment as yet another reason to do so. But the health and human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, says the law gives her plenty of authority to make the necessary changes to the program without Congressional action.

To make the program viable, Ms. Sebelius said, she is considering changes in the eligibility criteria, including employment and earnings requirements, to ensure that only active workers may enroll. She also said she favored adjusting premiums to rise with inflation.

Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa and chairman of the Senate health committee, encouraged the administration to make any changes that might be required to keep the program fiscally sound, so “no one with a disability will be forced to live in an institution.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/health/policy/22care.html

[Angry Dragon]

1. head shake

[ThomCat]

2. Only active workers may enrole?

So what about all of us people on disability who don't work, you know, because we're out on disability? Aren't we entitled to stay in our homes too?

:grr:

Yet another change watering down the bill.

We were told that the original bill was supposed to be just the first step forward, and more steps forward would follow to improve it, until it really was something resembling universal health care. Just trust that the everything has to start with that bill, and momentum would build after that first step.

But so far all we have seen in that one half-hearted step kind-of forward, and then a bunch of baby steps back from there. Where are all of those repeated steps forward, one building upon another, that we were told to expect?

[RobinA]

3. Too Costly?

From what I've seen of home care in my state (PA), it's gotta become a lot more costly to even raise to the level of "acceptable" care. It is dismal here if you can't pay out of pocket.