Excerpt from: email
Sources include:medpage Today (click for full article)
Click here and here for more information (Crain's Detroit Business and mLive)
Those of you who were just in DC heard Connie Garner of UCP say in her presentation that we don’t do the right thing for long term care, even though “no one knows who they are going to be 24 hours from now.”And now apparently, to save maybe $125 per year, we’re going to cap benefits and shift more costs onto the Medicaid system.
That, of course, will only put more pressure on that program, which will probably lead to more attempts to cut it, which will be a big problem for people who need it. The short-sightedness of people who think nothing bad can ever happen to them, and they’ll never need benefits, makes me crazy.
“Unfortunately, this country is ‘all about acute illness and injury coverage,’ said long-term care advocate and nurse practitioner Connie Garner, who worked 8 years with the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), sponsor of the CLASS Act. Our healthcare system does not address unpredictable events that turn into long-term needs, she said. “You don't know who you are going to be 24 hours from now. We walk around this country acting like we do,’ she said. ‘If something that happens to you like that, you can't get the services and support you need to prevent you from slipping backward [into poverty]. We really haven't done this for this country.’ "
This is bad public policy for health care providers, for drivers, for the public at large, and for current and future people with disabilities.
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