Dr. Kimball’s Plan for Supporting our Seniors & their Caregivers
Age is a gift denied to many. Our seniors deserve respect, dignity, and reliable access to healthcare in their golden years.
Currently, seniors in America rely on Medicare to cover the cost of healthcare after the age of 65. While Medicare is an excellent federal program, it does not go far enough in supporting our aging population.
We, as Americans in the 21st century, are lucky to live longer lives compared to when Medicare was first unveiled. In fact, we now enjoy a whole extra decade on average. However, Medicare has not kept pace with covering the unique health issues that come with advanced age. This puts our seniors at the mercy of predatory private equity firms who own care homes as well as the prohibitory rules surrounding Medicare coverage.
Medicare does not cover custodial or in-home care. This is the sort of coverage that would allow safe and comfortable aging in place - things like an aid, someone to help our seniors bathe, eat, get around, and maintain independence longer in their own houses. This sort of care promotes longevity, prevents loneliness, and prevents accidents or accelerated progression of chronic illness.
Medicare also does not meaningfully cover inpatient nursing for our seniors who need specialized memory care or are facing other challenges qualifying for similar round-the-clock care.
Currently, if our seniors require such things, they are expected to completely drain all their savings and assets before Medicaid steps in to cover them. That, mixed with private equity firms monopolizing the care field, jacking up prices, and underpaying their staff leads to a frustrating, frightening and overall degrading destination for seniors.
So what options do our seniors have? They do what any of us would. They do their best to stay independent and in their own homes. Their spouses, kids, neighbors, or friends do their best to look after them. Sometimes folks even move their entire lives to be closer to family members for support. However, the reality is that the working class cannot maintain a full time job AND care for their aging loved ones, even if they desire to. Add in the high cost of consistent personal aides, challenges of choosing a good fit for a patient’s needs, the affordability crisis affecting us all, and the increasing number of citizens entering this age of their lives. It’s like navigating a minefield.
What if our senior loved ones end up needing more care? Skilled nursing following stroke or a Parkinson’s diagnosis, memory care for patients dealing with Alzeimer’s or dementia, or even extended in-patient care following a major injury from a fall is extremely expensive.
Medicare only covers 100 days of such care. It’s unrealistic for permanent advanced age challenges to be addressed in 100 days or fewer. As such, seniors are expected to expend all their savings and assets until they fit in the outdated, hyper-reduced bar at which Medicaid kicks in.
So, in a nutshell: if we are gifted with a beautifully long life, we are faced with the impossible expectation to maintain ourselves without adequate support for a dignified and safe method to age-in-place as long as possible.
And, should we face the human experience of an accident, cognitive disorder, or age-related disability, we are put at the mercy of private equity firms monopolizing care services which drain our hard-earned savings and assets.
Meanwhile, our family and friends who would gladly care for us themselves cannot do so. Their own livelihood and healthcare is already monopolized to a different fulltime job. All the while, private equity firms pocket our seniors’ assets freely in their overpriced, understaffed care homes.
In the words of a senior neighbor I met earlier this month, such a situation makes them feel like they’re “being thrown away”.
Our seniors should never be made to feel cast aside.
To avoid crisis, our seniors and their families need real solutions NOW.
We cannot wait any longer for the federal government to sort out healthcare coverage for all.
That’s why, once elected, I plan to introduce legislation to support:
Extending Medicaid (HUSKY Health) to ALL Connecticut residents over the age of 65 making less than $1M per year
Eliminating the asset screening for these residents so they may keep their savings, home, and assets in the family if they so choose.
Offering a universal basic income for all fulltime caregivers so folks can confidently focus on what matters to them: their elderly loved one
Covering fulltime caregivers with HUSKY as well so our seniors’ family members and friends are well-taken care of during their tenure as a caregiver
Ultimately, I support healthcare for all Nutmeggers through further expansion of HUSKY Health, but given the vice grip private healthcare companies have on the US, it must be approached in a phased, systematic fashion.
Who would be next after coverage for our seniors is secured?
My plan would include:
Phase 2: covering all Connecticut residents under the age of 18, plus all pregnant individuals and parents of children aged 5 and younger.
From there, we expand progressively until all CT residents are covered.
Want to hear more about my policy ideas and priorities? Check back next week for the next blog post!
