Newt Gingrich is the only Republican presidential contender who responded to a National Council on Aging (NCOA) candidate survey.
Gingrich, a former House speaker and a former co-chair of the national Alzheimer’s Study Group, told the NCOA, Washington, that the best way to help the United States address its long-term care (LTC) needs is to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA).
PPACA calls for cutting LTC provider reimbursement rates, and repealing the law would eliminate those cuts, Gingrich says.
Gingrich also supports:
- Giving consumers more flexibility to use health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts to buy LTC services and long-term care insurance (LTCI).
- Providing Medicare coverage for family caregiver training and education programs.
- Giving Medicaid dollars to states in the form of block grants.
“States and their leaders understand much better than the federal government where the appropriate facilities are and how they can be wrapped into the state program,” Gingrich says.
President Obama also filled out a questionnaire.