Research Centers Post Long-Term Care Policy Papers

November is Long-Term Care Awareness Month, and two organizations have celebrated by putting out LTC policy options papers.

The Paragon Health Institute, a health policy research center with strong ties to Republican policymakers, has published “Long-Term Care: The Problem,” a paper by Stephen Moses, the president of the Seattle-based Center for Long-Term Care Reform.

Moses, who has long criticized state and federal moves that have crowded private companies out of long-term care services delivery and long-term care insurance, writes in opposition of efforts to create new, public LTC finance programs.

“Access to publicly financed LTC creates a moral hazard that discourages responsible LTC planning when people are still young, healthy, and affluent enough to save, invest, or insure for the risk,” Moses says. “Policymakers should consider how public financing created and worsened LTC’s problems before proposing more of the same to address those problems.”

A team at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a research center with ties both to Republicans and Democrats, has released “Improving PACE: Improving Access to Enrollment in Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.”

Private organizations in the PACE system provide comprehensive care, including home care and adult daycare center care, for older Medicare enrollees who already have enough problems with activities of daily living to qualify for Medicaid home care and nursing home care benefits.

Lisa Harootunian and other Bipartisan Policy Center health analysts contend that expanding and promoting PACE could help fill the LTC services gap as the Baby Boomers age.

Federal regulators could help PACE grow by easing some of the tough marketing rules, by improving the PACE provider application process, and by helping some Medicare enrollees who aren’t eligible for Medicaid buy into PACE home care services programs, the center analysts say.

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