National Commission on Long-Term Care Finds No Solutions to LTC Crisis

On March 23, 2013 I blogged on the official demise of the CLASS Act LTC program.

The CLASS (Community Living Assistance Services and Supports) Act was supposed to create a voluntary, worker-paid long-term care (LTC) benefits program. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the CLASS Act program was actuarially sustainable. Of course, we in the long-term care insurance (LTCi) industry knew the CLASS Act was “deader than a doornail” for a long time, way before CLASS was enacted. This legislation just makes its demise official.

The formal repeal of the CLASS Act on January 1, 2013 included the establishment of a national commission on long-term care.

The committee was tasked with creating solutions for our nation’s looming long-term care crisis, which I’ve often blogged about.

On Thursday, September 12, 2013, the Commission submitted its recommendations, right on their deadline.

This Forbes Column by Howard Gleckman, on September 13, 2013, reports that Commission members were unable to come to consensus on adopting Commission recommendations, primarily because the committee was unable to broach the subject of LTC financing, which is obviously the crux of the problem.

Quoting from Mr. Gleckman, “Sources say there was never much chance the commission–operating with limited resources, deep partisan divisions, and a painfully short time-frame—could tackle the controversial financing issue. Instead, the report will do little more than identify the two prime alternatives—expanding private savings and insurance options or a creating a public social insurance program– without endorsing either.”