EDITORIAL
Long-term-care bill worth signing by Lingle

Gov. Linda Lingle has given strong signals that she will veto a bill that sets up the beginnings of a state-sponsored program for long-term care of the elderly.

While we agree with Lingle that this is hardly the complete answer to what will become an ever-more-serious problem for our society, it does offer a strong first step forward. She should spend some time with the Temporary Board of Trustees for the program to see if some of her concerns can be answered.

Ideally, everyone who needs it should purchase their own long-term-care insurance. But such insurance is not available to all and is unaffordable to many.

The same bill that sets up the state program offers modest tax credits for the purchase of private insurance, a concept Lingle endorses.

Those who object to this program say it is one more tax, at a time our economy cannot afford new taxes.

But the broader issue is that while we may think we cannot afford a new tax, we also cannot afford the current system that drives frail elderly out of their homes and into less desirable and more expensive care homes or nursing facilities.

We pay, one way or another. This program spreads out the burden and creates at least a modest level of security for residents in their later years.