Stephen Moses, the president of the Center for Long Term Care, joins the show to discuss a recommendation to Congress that could make nursing home care worse, not better. The MACPAC Commission, which advises Congress on the issue, is recommending that Medicaid make estate recoveries voluntary. What this means is that nursing home residents who have qualified for Medicaid coverage no longer have to pay the bill back from their estate, even if there are appreciable assets. Such a move will put enormous stress on Medicaid and give people little incentive to save and pay for private care. Nursing home care has been under the spotlight since more than 20 percent of people who died from COVID-19 lived in nursing homes. Medicaid is the biggest payer of nursing home care in the U.S. Congress should make it easier for the free market to work by making it easier for people to save for long term care.

Links to note:

LTC Bullet: MACPAC Captured

Center for Long Term Care

[email protected]

Heartland Daily News:  Health Care News links on nursing home care