One of the longshot candidates who participated in the Democratic presidential primary debate in Des Moines, Iowa, Tuesday said the country needs to do more about long-term care (LTC) finance.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., jammed discussion of LTC finance into the debate when she was answering a question about Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All proposal.
(Related: Just 2 in First Democratic Presidential Debate Back Single-Payer Health Care)
Klobuchar argued that the debate for pure Medicare for All, single-payer health care finance proposals “isn’t real.”
Only about one-third of Democratic senators are supporting Sanders’ Medicare for All bill, and many Democratic governors and Democratic House members oppose the bill, Klobuchar said.
She said an alternative would be to give all people access to a nonprofit public health insurance option.
“And then, finally, what should we do about long-term care?” Klobuchar asked. “That’s the elephant that doesn’t even fit in this room. We need to make it easier for people to get long-term care insurance. We need to make it easier for them to pay their premiums.”
Klobuchar said that her own father is collecting long-term care insurance benefits but is now close to exhausting the benefits.