March 12, 2002
Seattle--
*** Zone-in to find three
new entries added to The Data Base today.
A list of the new items and information on how to qualify for the
donor-only zone follow this Bullet. ***
We often let you know when
the Center for Long-Term Care Financing gets some good publicity that advances
our common mission. We also
publicize the availability of interesting new sources of information.
Today's epistle kills both those birds with one "Bullet."
Health Care News,
subtitled "The Monthly Newspaper for Health Care Reform," is a
free-of-charge publication of The Heartland Institute.
Heartland is a free-market think tank and advocacy group.
Whether you lean ideologically toward market solutions or not, you'll
find this periodical well-written, incisive, and challenging. If you like free markets, read it for the ammunition.
If your proclivity is toward government financing and regulation, you
couldn't find a better place to monitor your opponents and hone your
counter-arguments.
A recent issue of HCN
(October 2001) contained an article about HIAA's campaign to pass above-the-line
LTCI tax deductibility. The piece
quoted Center for Long-Term Care Financing President Stephen Moses and Walter
Cadette. Cadette is a senior
scholar at the Jerome Levy Economics Institute who has published on long-term
care financing and with whom the Center has collaborated.
For example:
"Stephen A. Moses,
president of the Center for Long-Term Care Financing, told Health Care News
in an email interview, 'Without strong tax incentives to encourage baby boomers
to plan early and insure fully for long-term care, many of this 77-million
mega-generation will fall into Medicaid by default as their parents and
grandparents did, thus administering the final coup d' grace to America's
welfare-financed, institution-based long-term care system.'" (p. 4)
The article cites Cadette as
follows: "The nation is not equipped to deal with this problem.
By default more than by design, it has fashioned a welfare model for
financing long-term care, pushing Medicaid far afield of its original purpose of
providing for the medical care of the indigent." (p. 4)
"Moses, at the Center
for LTC Financing, agrees. 'The only way to save Medicaid for the poor is to
divert middle-class boomers to LTC insurance now, while they are still young
enough, healthy enough, and affluent enough to afford the premiums.
Congress and President Bush are penny-wise, pound foolish if they miss
this last, viable opportunity to act.'" (p. 4)
The same issue of Health
Care News contains articles by editor Conrad F. Meier, Merrill Matthews,
Jr., Grace-Marie Turner and Greg Scandlen, all of whom are well known for their
thoughtful analysis, skilled writing, and passionate dedication to improving
health care service delivery and financing in the United States.
Some of the other article titles in the same issue include:
"Americans Want Health Care Choice," "Individual Insurance:
Solution for the New Economy?," and "500,000 Seniors to Lose
Medicare+Choice Insurance."
For a free subscription to Health
Care News, click here (http://www.heartland.org/health/welcomeLTC.htm)
to access the online subscription form or download the form as a .pdf file, fill
it out, and fax or mail it in.
*** New items added to The
Data Base today include "Critical Shortage of Geriatricians,"
"Data on International Aging, Over 55 Income, and Alzheimer's
Disease," and "Why to Seek Younger Prospects."
*** Can't zone in yet? Here's how: Donors to the Center of $100 or more per year may access The Zone almost immediately. Just send your preferred user name and password (10 characters or less) to amy@centerltc.org. Amy will confirm your user name and password are active, usually within a day or two. If you aren't a zone-level contributor yet, go to www.centerltc.org and click on "Support the Center." There, you can contribute online directly from a bank account or with a credit card. You'll receive a confirmation and receipt by email. Otherwise, mail your check to the Center at 2212 Queen Anne Avenue North, #110, Seattle, WA, 98109. Contributions to the Center for Long-Term Care Financing are fully tax-deductible. Here's another option. Maybe you work for a company that already provides corporate-level support to the Center for Long-Term Care Financing. If so, you may qualify for free or discounted access to The Zone. Email amy@centerltc.org to find out. If your company does not support the Center yet, encourage them to do so. Tell them access to the The Zone will help you do your job better, faster, and more profitably. ***