Surveys find support for state care plan
| • | Chart: Survey: State should support long-term care |
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer
More than half of Hawai'i adults polled said they are willing to contribute at least $10 a month toward long-term-care insurance coverage, and most say that it's very important for the state to help people pay for such services, according to a recent survey conducted for AARP, the advocacy group for seniors.
Greg Marchildon, state executive director of AARP, said the organization paid for the survey last year to gauge public opinion about a state long-term-care plan, which has been the subject of increasing debate in Hawai'i in recent years.
State lawmakers this year passed a measure that creates a new payroll tax of $10 a month for a state long-term-care fund and also offers tax credits to those who buy private long-term-care insurance. But there was much opposition, and Gov. Linda Lingle has said she may veto the bill.
Marchildon said the independent survey was commissioned to put some community muscle behind the advocacy of organizations like his, to help give government officials some idea of how residents might react to a new tax, traditionally a bitter political pill to swallow. The survey was released publicly last week.
The state Executive Office of Aging estimates that by the year 2020, one of every four Hawai'i residents will be 60 years or older, and many will need long-term care that helps them maintain a quality of life and do things they can no longer do on their own.
The organization hired consultant Mattson Sunderland Research and Planning Associates to conduct two surveys from August through October of last year on the subject of financing long-term care.
Both surveys were conducted with random telephone calls. The larger sample, which was designed to measure the views of the public, interviewed 1,000 people, with a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percent.
The organization also paid for another smaller survey of 400 AARP members, with a sampling error of plus of minus 5 percent.
John Luehrs, AARP's national coordinator for long-term care, said some of the survey revealed misconceptions about what long-term care is and how much it costs.
He said most people equate long-term care with being forced to move to a nursing home. "They don't like it. And they don't understand it," Luehrs said.
Nationwide, about 9 percent of adults have purchased private long-term-care insurance that would help them cope with such costs. In Hawai'i, that percentage is 6 percent.
Hawai'i's average nursing home cost is $238 a day, sixth-highest in the nation, according to a survey by the financial planning firm GE Financial.
Luehrs said Hawai'i is the only state in the nation to support a state-run system that relies on a payroll tax.
One thing that people in Hawai'i and across the nation agree on is where they want to be even after they need long-term care: "Their No. 1 is to be at home."
He said people want to be able to choose the kind of assistance — help with chores, someone to drive them to the store, medical services at home. A disadvantage to Medicaid long-term care is "80 percent of Medicaid long-term-care dollars are spent on nursing homes," he said.
Mae Mendelson, volunteer state director for AARP Hawai'i, said the survey of older AARP members showed nearly half (45 percent) preferred the idea of being able to pay a nurse or aide to provide them care at home. Meanwhile, the largest percentage of the broader group (37 percent) expressed a preference for having family and friends care for them at home.
Mendelson, who is 60, said she believes that reflects a Hawai'i sensibility about older folks. " 'I don't want to be a burden to my children' is something you hear all the time."
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
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