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To: LLCF who wrote (33856)	11/5/2000 10:04:53 AM
From: flatsville	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

<< Do you actually know who bears the burden of care for aging parents? >> >>Yep<< <<Who has to quit the job and derail the career to care for Mom and Dad? Take a guess?>> >>Who would you THINK? Maybe the federal department of old people?<< I don't think DAK, I know who they are. It's women--overwhelmingly women. And the data bears this out regardless of anecdotal evidence. That's why I'm so amused when I hear men talk BIG about taking care of aging parents. They usually have a wife or sister standing behind them somewhere. They better hope she doesn't go missing. Couples get divorced over this issue. Families become divided. <<A whole lot of baby boomers will soon find out whether or not they can really talk the talk and walk the walk when it comes to againg parents. >> >>Oh, they'll walk the walk alright... unless Gore get's the ministry of 'silly walks' to do it for them.<< Ministy of silly walks? How insightful. Oh, really DAK? When you've changed your mother's Depends maybe we'll have something to talk about, because that's where the rubber meets the road. >>This is a major issue that neither party is dealing with... so again, I fail to see how the dem's are going to be better than anyone else. When the baby boomers start getting sick look out, Gold stocks will be the hottest investment on the planet.<< Look at the transition from AFDC to TANF in the area of welfare reform and you'll see the Democrats are perfectly capable major social welfare policy reform when the timing is right and the political will exists. Here's a tidbit that you should find disturbing. Can you figure out why you should? In a December 11, 1996, article titled Families of Elders Have a Lot Riding On Budget Debates, the Journal recognizes the profound effect Congressional action can have on the quality of life for elders and their caregivers. Of particular interest is the analysis of the recent Kassebaum-Kennedy law criminalizing some gifts by those facing long-term care expenses (see Elder Law Issues, August 19, 1996). The Journal article refers to the new law as the "throw-Granny-in-jail" law. Although Medicaid now pays for approximately half of all formal long-term care for seniors and the disabled, the Journal article points out a more profound statistic: as much as 80% of long-term care is provided directly by family members. Nearly all of that care is provided in the home, where Medicaid is the least likely to be considered as a possible substitute. Government involvement in long-term care has focused primarily on nursing home placement. In the past five years, however, the government's role has begun to shift. While Medicaid provided $3.4 billion in home care services in 1990, by 1995 the figure had tripled (to $10.33 billion). At the same time, Medicare (which has traditionally provided more home care services than Medicaid, but still has focused on institutional care) increased its home care benefits from $3.66 billion to $14.90 billion, a four-fold increase. Now Congress is seeking ways to cut the federal budget, and particularly the federal-state commitment to Medicaid care. The "throw-Granny-in-jail" law is an early attempt to restrict payments for long-term care (though some discussion is being undertaken in Congress about repealing the new law altogether). Any significant change in government benefits is likely to have a devastating effect on the ability of families to provide some care to their aging seniors. As the Journal article points out, it could also lead to the paradox of increasing nursing home costs as the family members providing 80% of care find themselves unable to make their care plans work.