Obama supports program that would cover long-term care costs
This week, President Obama gave his support to creating a program to help families struggling with long-term care costs, the Associated Press reports.
The voluntary insurance program, sponsored by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, would pay a daily cash benefit of at least $50 that people could use for various in-home services or nursing home expenses, according to an online Boston Globe article.
Kennedy's own Senate health committee will include the long-term care provisions in its version of health care legislation. But the Congressional Budget Office is warning that premiums will not be enough to cover benefit costs after the program has been operating for a few years. Plus, Republicans said that the program could cost $2 trillion over the next 75 years.
Still, Obama's support could persuade lawmakers to take a second look at Kennedy's idea. In a letter to Kennedy released this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that Obama believes the long-term care program should be part of a health care overhaul.
As Kennedy envisions it, workers and their spouses would be able to enroll in the insurance program for a monthly premium of $65. People would have to pay premiums for at least five years before they could claim benefits, and they would have had to be working at least three of those years.