Aetna 2001 Annual Report Download - page 23

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Long-Term Care Financing —
An Urgent National Priority
   .  (-.)
U.S. House of Representatives
The cost of essential medical care shouldn’t impoverish
working Americans.
I have visited with seniors who worked very hard all their lives, who did not take extravagant
vacations or spend needlessly, but who now face poverty in paying for essential care for their spouses.
The anguish in these folks’ eyes is real and terrible. We must act!
Nearly  percent of Americans will need some form of long-term care during their lives —
but no one plans for its cost. Many think that Medicare pays for extended long-term care expenses,
but it does not. We need to help families secure access to the long- term care that their loved ones
need and not break the backs of our kids to pay for it. If we continue to rely on publicly
financed programs like Medicaid to pay for nursing homes, the resulting tax levels — borne by
our descendants — will be unsustainable.
We have public (Social Security) and private retirement security programs, and public (Medicare)
and privately financed health care insurance. The need to supplement publicly financed long-term
care with privately financed options has the same level of importance.
Because no one is immune from aging or disability, we all should have some plan to finance a
long-term nursing home stay or extended period of home health care. Many of us have had to
provide long-term care for an elderly parent or relative and are all too familiar with its costs.
I have introduced legislation that provides tax deductions for purchasing long-term care
insurance and tax credits to help offset the cost of providing care to a loved one at home.
This measure, endorsed by both the HIAA and AARP, would offer a tax deduction for long-term
care insurance policies and a tax credit for expenses incurred by caregiving families. Coupled with
strong consumer protections, my legislation would help families pay for the care of their loved ones.
Long-term care has the potential to wipe out a senior’s retirement savings. As America’s
population has gotten older, its seniors are living longer with multiple, chronic health problems
that require more years of increasingly expensive long-term care. Americans spent approximately
$ billion on long-term care in , and costs are estimated to rise fivefold over the next  years.
The government is currently the predominant payer of long-term care costs, paying over $ billion
annually. Faced with this demographic tidal wave of aging baby boomers, we must change the way
we finance long-term care so that it is fairer and more effective.
Currently, annual long-term care expenses for an individual are about $,.Howcanthe
average American family afford that high cost for even one year? We need to help families plan how
to finance the long-term care that their loved ones may need. More important, we need to allow
families to do so without impoverishing themselves to qualify for assistance.
I hope my colleagues in Congress will work with me in passing meaningful long-term care
reform. We must take strong steps to assure long-term care security — to make real the promise of
retirement and health security — for America’s families.