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Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will consider the Democratic budget alternative as part of consideration of the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget. The Democratic proposal includes a provision authored by Budget Committee Member Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) to improve access to long-term care in the United States.

“Long-term care is a concern that nearly every American has faced, or will face, as our population ages,” said Dingell. “We have made great strides to improve our healthcare system in the last few years, but we have not addressed long-term health care for seniors or the disabled, and not dealing with it doesn’t make the problem go away. The existing long-term care system is complex, confusing and almost impossible to navigate. Current programs leave huge gaps in access to care, and people are forced to rely on a patchwork of private insurance, public programs and unpaid family care givers. It is long past time for a new approach that can help seniors and those with disabilities get the care they need.”

Dingell’s amendment, which is cosponsored by Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, Congressman Chris Van Hollen (MD-08), and Representatives Jim McDermott (WA-07), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01), and Donald Norcross (NJ-01), creates a deficit-neutral reserve fund in the budget to support enactment of a long-term care bill this Congress.

As the United States population continues to age, demand for long-term care is expected to double in the next 40 years. However, neither Medicare nor Medicaid was designed to help seniors with the tasks of daily living, like assistance with eating, getting dressed or bathing. Medicaid is the largest payer of long-term care costs, covering about 42 percent of all long-term care expenditures, but it has strict income eligibility limits. Medicare provides skilled nursing services and home health services only for limited periods of time as part of a patient’s recovery from an acute health episode, and was not designed to provide indefinite long-term care. 

Similarly, private long-term care insurance is not always affordable or available, and even when people have it, they may exhaust their benefits too quickly. Family caregivers are often called on to support people during a time of need. However, the typical family caregiver spends about 20 hours per week providing unpaid care to a family member for nearly five years, totaling a massive amount of unreimbursed time and energy. Dingell’s amendment would prioritize the establishment of a real long-term care program in the United States.