Missing from the Presidential Debate: Long-Term Care

 Missing from the Presidential Debate: Long-Term Care  


Send a postcard (for free!) through the Consumer Voice website.  Click here.

Tell your family, friends and colleagues that voters deserve to hear the candidates engage in a dialogue about an issue so central to the future of our country and the lives of millions of individuals and families!!

Washington, D.C. (February 21, 2012) – Every day, over 10 million frail seniors, younger people with disabilities, and their families struggle to find and pay for long-term care to stay independent and remain at home, and the need for care is expected to grow to over 15 million Americans by 2020.

Yet, the issue of long-term care has been completely absent from this year’s presidential campaign. No questions have been asked during the debates. The candidates have not posted any views or positions on their websites, and only two candidates have responded to a national survey on their views to address this growing national challenge.

Long-term care helps older adults and individuals with disabilities manage everyday activities, such as dressing, bathing, using the bathroom, preparing meals, and taking medication.

While these home care services are cost-effective and help people stay independent and out of expensive nursing homes, they are not covered by traditional health insurance. Medicare does not cover them, and only 3% of adults have private long-term care insurance. 

Medicaid offers some coverage for long term care, but individuals must spend-down and impoverish themselves to qualify – often exhausting a lifetime of savings. Waiting lists also have doubled over the past decade, with some states cutting home and community-based services to trim budgets.

As a result, over 90% of all long-term services provided today are delivered informally by more than 42.1 million family members. These caregivers often face enormous burdens, adversely affecting their health, ability to work, and financial security.

To help raise this critical issue among the presidential candidates, 15 national aging and disability organizations, including the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, invited each candidate to answer five questions about their views on long-term care. The questionnaire was distributed in November to all major candidates for President, regardless of political party affiliation. 

So far, only two presidential candidates—Barack Obama and Newt Gingrich—have responded to the questionnaire.

Read the questionnaire here.

Read President Obama's response here.

Read Newt Gingrich's response here.