Posted on: Wednesday, February 12, 2003
EDITORIAL
Long-term care: Some don't need state help
We're surprised to hear that those people who can afford private, long-term-care insurance, but have neglected to purchase it, are part of what Gov. Linda Lingle calls a "gap group that we're trying to help."
That's because we're used to hearing the term "gap group" applied to people who are in some way too rich to be eligible for public help but not rich enough to totally take care of themselves.
People in the market for long-term-care insurance who can afford it are, by and large, comparatively well-to-do.
We'll concede that rates for long-term-care insurance are much lower for young people, but young people believe they are immortal; we take our hat off to anyone who can sell them such a product.
Most people who have aged enough to realize the importance of long-term-care insurance would buy it if they could, obviating the need for an incentive. We question the public purpose in giving a 30 percent tax credit to people who are comfortable enough to have already purchased long-term-care insurance.
The real gap group comprises families that fall short of Medicare eligibility and do not have enough day-to-day income to pay for insurance premiums.
We continue to believe that we'll get a lot more mileage from a plan called CarePlus. The key element in CarePlus is a mandatory $10-a-month payroll tax into a fund that would provide cash care payments to qualified recipients. The plan would presumably generate around $70 a day (in today's dollars) that could be spent for home care or to offset the cost of institutional payments.
This plan won't put people in comfortable nursing homes. It will provide a minimal "floor" of support for people so they can afford to stay at home.
We think the greater public purpose comes from helping those who need it, and reducing public expenditure by keeping people out of expensive acute care facilities because they couldn't afford less expensive preventive measures.
Lingle is right that whatever plan the Legislature can afford to produce this year, it's just a start. But her plan diverts limited funds away from those who truly need it.
