LTC Coalition Gives Federal Lawmakers a Push.

Citizens For Long Term Care (CLTC) is making sure that long-term care financing reform is front and center on Congress's agenda as it debates other healthcare legislation, such as the right to sue HMOs, investment accounts for Social Security and relief for soaring prescription costs.

According to Patrick Brady, executive director of CLTC, by next month the organization hopes to issue a statement on long-term care financing reform's place in the upcoming entitlement reform debate. "Our goal...is to set up long-term care financing reform as the next big retirement security issue," says Brady. "We don't realistically expect comprehensive long-term care financing reform to come out of this entitlement reform debate. But we do think by demonstrating that it belongs in the debate, we can force the issue on policymakers and really make this the next big issue." Having addressed the Senate's Special Committee on Aging and the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors' Health Care Symposium along these lines this summer, CLTC intends to point out that Medicare reform should involve more than just proposals for a prescription drug benefit, and Social Security reform needs to take into account the costs families endure when paying for their loved ones' long-term care.

Also on the group's agenda is a statement on the workforce crisis, taking into account workforce issues raised in reports by other organizations: "Our goal is really to build on those and then make a clear and definite linkage between the insufficient financing system we have now and how that affects the workforce," Brady explains. For example, the statement will point out that facilities do not receive enough reimbursement to adequately pay caregivers, who also spend a lot of time completing reimbursement paperwork rather than providing care.

Headed by former Senator David Durenberger, CLTC is a broad coalition of industry and consumer groups dedicated to improving the nation's long-term care financing system. Members include the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), American Health Care Association (AHCA), American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).