Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
As lawmakers wage bitter battles over tax cuts and government spending, they're finding some common ground around ensuring long-term care options for baby boomers.
Why it matters: The baby boom generation is driving demand for long-term care as the nation grapples with health workforce shortages. Answers could come in tweaking entitlements or tax policy.
The latest: In the past week, lawmakers have introduced bipartisan bills that in different ways propose expanding access to long-term care.
- Reps. Tom Suozzi and John Moolenaar unveiled a revised version of the WISH Act that would create a federal catastrophic long-term care fund under Social Security.
- It would enable lower-income individuals and those who need help with at least two activities of daily living to receive a monthly benefit of about $4,000 for six hours of daily care.
- The bill also aims at encouraging insurers to create more affordable long-term care insurance products.
Another bill, the Credit for Caring Act, was reintroduced last week by Reps. Linda Sánchez and Mike Carey and Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Michael Bennet.
- It would create a tax credit of up to $5,000 for family caregivers.
- No funding offsets for either bill have been identified yet. An earlier version of the WISH Act would have tapped payroll taxes.
What they're saying: Lawmakers say demographics should put the issue on the front burner and make it ripe for collaboration after what's likely to be an extended and bitterly partisan reconciliation fight.
- Suozzi told reporters last week that the way to get people's attention is to focus on potential savings to Medicaid, which covers an increasing amount of home- and community-based services. He said he's had conversations with fellow House Ways and Means members on the topic.
- "There's a big storm coming in our country," Suozzi said. "Very few people have long-term care insurance, and people end up going into nursing homes. And not only can the nursing homes not handle this volume of people, but the Medicaid system will go bust."
Between the lines: Because long-term care isn't covered by Medicare, many seniors spend down their assets so they can qualify for care under Medicaid.
- The more elderly beneficiaries who do so, the more of a financial strain it places on Medicaid, which already accounts for one-fifth of U.S. health care spending and covers more than a quarter of Americans.
Flashback: Both President Trump and Kamala Harris put out long-term care policy proposals on the campaign trail last year.
- Harris called for a "Medicare at Home" benefit that would have covered in-home services for seniors with modest incomes, and at a sliding scare for wealthier people.
- Trump's team told Axios at the time that its long-term care policies would include "shifting resources back to at-home senior care, overturning disincentives that lead to care worker shortages, and supporting unpaid family caregivers through tax credits and reduced red tape."
- Trump also reiterated his support for the caregiver tax credit on the campaign trail, but the policy, which polls well, hasn't come up during reconciliation discussions.
