Long-Term Care: Help from the Government?
July 8, 2009 by Miranda Marquit
Filed under Finance
As Congress tries to hash out health care reform (and wrangle over a public insurance option), many have wondered about the place of long-term care. Most have said including it in reform is too expensive. However, new legislation may 
help mitigate some of the costs — and provide a savings vehicle for those who expect to need help with long-term care costs in the future. It is called the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS Act — don’t you love how they name these things?). NPR reports on the main thrust of the act:
That legislation, which is part of the committee’s health bill, would let workers choose to have government deduct money from their paychecks — maybe $65 to $100 a month — and put it in a savings account. When they get old or disabled and need care, they could then use that money.
Anything that encourages automatic savings is generally a good idea. I would be interested to know whether the savings account would offer a high yield, and whether you could direct some of the money to be put into conservative investments. Of course, since it would be a long-term investment, I would favor index funds. I think that something similar to retirement accounts now — complete with tax advantages and the ability to direct some investments — would be in order. But it doesn’t look like that has really been thought out.
In any case, it is fairly obvious that health care reform on all fronts is needed. The private sector has largely dropped the ball, and offering a public option for health insurance (perhaps something similar to what our elected officials have access to) is a good first step. And you wouldn’t be forced to choose it if you could get a better deal elsewhere. A public option would introduce something akin to competition in a market where, quite frankly, there is very little.
Image source: NESRI via Flickr
No thanks……. I want to live a life of real freedom, not government dependency disguised as freedom.
I wish these con-artists in Washington would sober up and stop spending our grandkid’s future earnings on us to buy our votes.
The government as a competitor is a completely false notion. This is about control and creating dependency. No private enterprise can compete with a government who can make up the rules as they go along, don’t have to turn a profit because they can print money, and can subsidize failure forever until they eventually bankrupt the country.
Like most government programs, this will do the opposite of what is advertised. Government really only does one thing well— screw up whatever it touches. Why would anyone with half a brain trust these dopes?
Ah, Jim. You and I will never agree on this one. I don’t think that the government could possible screw things up worse in terms of health care than the private sector already has. The system as it is now offers limited choices, no real incentive for preventative measures, and doesn’t even provide the best health care in the world — despite that the fact that we pay more than anyone else.