Medicare Part E?
Another part of health care reform:
The Class Act, a legacy of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (whose widow and son were on hand for the signing), sets up the first national government-run long-term care insurance program, which will be offered primarily through employers.
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The Class Act does not require screening of applicants for health problems, so people who might not qualify for private long-term care insurance can enroll. Participants will pay monthly premiums; after a five-year vesting period, they receive benefits if they need care, whether they are 28-year-olds hurt in snowboard accidents or 88-year-olds with Parkinson’s disease.
You pay premiums, and after you’ve been doing that for years, if you get sick or injured, you get some help with your daily care, with tasks that will help people stay out of nursing homes.
Naturally, the private insurance industry is against this. They’d rather keep collecting high premiums from people with no other choices—surprise! According to the executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (i.e. a spokesman for private insurance):
“Inevitably, Class will morph into an entitlement program that’s a mandatory tax on all individuals,” he said. He calls it “Medicare Part E.”
By using the words “entitlement” and “mandatory tax,” this private insurer spokesman is trying to paint the program as inevitably unpopular. But “Medicare Part E” gets closer to the truth. Because Medicare is popular, remember? And if there’s one thing private insurers don’t want, it’s popular programs doing what they do without the uncertainty and abusive price hikes.
“Medicare Part E,” may sound scary to the insurance companies, but to most of us, it sounds pretty good.
Tags: health care reform
Actually, we advocate but aren’t paid by the long-term care insurance industry. CLASS is a reality and hopefully it will 1) be priced accurately so taxpayer bailouts are not required, and, 2) sufficient numbers of people sign-up for the plan. If they don’t, taxpayers will be paying more as well.
I happen to agree; Medicare Part E sounds great. Medicare Part E costing each American who works 3% of income each year sounds less great doesn’t it?
Everyone wants a free lunch (me too) but there is no free lunch. That’s all we are pointing out.
Jesse Slome
Executive Director
American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance
http://www.aaltci.org
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The CLASS Act will not be an option for those who are already disabled (and unable to work) or those who are retired and do not want to work. The law requires that in order to qualify for benefits, one must pay premiums for 5 years AND must be working for at least 3 of those 5 years.
The CLASS Act’s $50 per day “average benefit” will only cover a small portion of the $75,000+ per year most Americans pay for in-home care. Most people who want to protect their savings will still need to purchase long-term care insurance to supplement the CLASS Act benefit.
One of the biggest problems we face is that most Americans still think that Medicare or their medical insurance covers the cost of long term care.
The CLASS Act addresses this problem by making a very clear statement: You have to pay for your own long term care. You either have to pay for your own long term care by using your savings, the $50 per day CLASS Act benefit, long term care insurance, or a combination of these.
Most of the ten million Americans who own long term care insurance, own it because they’ve seen friends or family have to spend down their assets before qualifying for Medicaid. The CLASS Act will help alert the rest of the country to the fact that they need to financially plan for their future long term care needs.
Scott A. Olson
http://www.LTCInsuranceShopper.com
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