Health Care Reform Update

The first of many steps was taken this week to push a final health care bill to the President’s desk by the end of the year. This week the Senate began debating its proposed health care bill. On Thursday, the Senate rejected a bid to reduce Medicare cuts and approved safeguards for coverage of preventive tests for women.

The Senate must vote and approve a final bill, however, before both the House and Senate bills can be reconciled into one bill for the President to sign.

This week, WOW and other national allied aging and disability organizations sponsored a CLASS Act Call-in Day to keep long-term care insurance at the forefront of Senators minds as they debate the bill. Currently, 10 million Americans need long-term care and support. The Elder Index shows that an elder’s costs can double or even triple due to long-term care expenses.

As the Baby Boomer generation ages the number of elders in need of long-term care services will only increase and it is important to have a long-term care insurance program that everyone, regardless of income status, can participate in to receive the services they will need to age in place.

As of Friday afternoon, the CLASS Act survived two votes on the Senate floor. Remember to tell your Senator to support the CLASS act by sending her/him an email.