Healthcare Reform that Doesn't Address Long Term Care Would Be a Failure - John A. Farrell (usnews.com)

 

May 22, 2009 03:36 PM ET | John Aloysius Farrell

By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

"It is absurd," writes Howard Gleckman, "to expect someone to clean feces from a dementia patient every day for nine dollars an hour for no benefits."

But, as anyone who has cared for an aging parent or terminally ill friend or disabled neighbor or relative knows, America's hodge-podge system of long-term care is packed with such assumptions. And some 54 million of us wrestle with them every day.

Here is one of my favorites: if you suffer a massive heart attack and need expensive medical care in your golden years, it is likely that Medicare will cover your bills.

But if you have the bad luck to contract Alzheimer's disease, it's sorry pal, you're on your own.....

Healthcare Reform that Doesn't Address Long Term Care Would Be a Failure - John A. Farrell (usnews.com)