Presidential Candidates Are Not Too Concerned About Long-Term Care

Fifteen national advocacy groups surveyed five presidential candidates with five questions about long-term care services. Only Barack Obama and Newt Gingrich responded to the questions. Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul all neglected to answer the survey.

Obama had little to say on the matter. His response was just a recitation of past efforts at supporting home and community based care. He also acknowledged that the CLASS Act was a failure, but did not offer any new alternatives.

Gingrich indicated that consumers should use tax-advantaged health savings accounts and flexible saving accounts to buy long-term care insurance. He also said that he would promote new models of care that would focus on medicarl care and home care. Gingrich also supported the idea of Medicare covering the cost of training for family caregivers.

See Howard Gleckman, Long-Term Care Services: Forgotten By Most Presidential Candidates, Forbes, Feb. 22, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.