Health Reform: What Changes Are In Store for the Elderly (USA)

Health Reform: What Changes Are in Store for the Elderly?

3/23/2010

After a year of legislative wrangling and premature forecasts of death, historic legislation overhauling the nation's health insurance system has passed the Congress and been signed into law by President Obama. The measure that finally prevailed is the version the Senate had approved on Christmas Eve of 2009. The House has added its own small fixes to the Senate bill in a separate "budget reconciliation" measure that the Senate must now vote on, but this second bill will require only a simple majority to pass, not the "supermajority" of 60 votes required of most legislation before the Senate. The Senate Democratic leadership is confident of passage.

Because the health reform measure enacted is the Senate version, much of what we wrote in our earlier article, "The Effects of Health Care Reform on Long-Term Care," still applies. Just substitute "the newly enacted law" wherever "the Senate bill" appears in the earlier article. The legislation that President Obama signed still contains:

·         The nation's first publicly funded national long-term care insurance program, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act. Its original sponsor, the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, did not live to see one of his legislative dreams enacted into law;

·         A number of provisions aimed at ending Medicaid's "institutional bias," which forces elderly and disabled individuals in many states to move to nursing homes;

·         Provisions that will help protect nursing home residents and other long-term care recipients from abuses, and give families of nursing home residents more information about the facilities their loved ones are living in or considering moving to; and

The Elder Justice Act, which will establish an "Elder Justice Coordinating Council" and provide federal resources to support state and community efforts to fight elder abuse.

Abridged
SOURCE:    Elder Law Answers.Com
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