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For Immediate
Release
4/18/07
CONTACT:
Donald Houser
(717) 787-1377
dhouser@pasen.gov
Senate Approves Corman's Long-Term Care Insurance Incentive
Legislation forces Department of Public Welfare to act when it won't on
its own
(HARRISBURG) – The state
Senate this week unanimously approved a bill sponsored by Senator Jake Corman
(R-34) that would provide a strong financial incentive for consumers to invest
in long-term care insurance and reduce financial costs to taxpayers.
Senate Bill 548 would
create the Long-Term Care (LTC) Partnership Program, which would provide a
financial incentive for individuals to buy LTC insurance, and orders the
Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare to file Pennsylvania's state plan for
LTC insurance with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services by
June 30th of this year. The measure is intended to give people the opportunity
to protect their personal assets by buying the insurance.
"Under the current
system, health care consumers are required to 'spend down' their assets before
taxpayer funded Medicaid steps in to cover the expenses associated with
long-term care," Corman said. "As a result, many individuals and families spend
all of their assets well before they go into long-term care, and then taxpayers
are forced to pick up the costs, which can be significant."
Corman said that the
Department of Public Welfare has missed its self imposed deadline to submit
Pennsylvania's plan to the federal government, which necessitated this
legislation. "Until this administration files Pennsylvania's plan, families
cannot accurately plan to protect assets, leaving Pennsylvania families and
taxpayers at a disadvantage just because they live in a state where officials
are slow to act."
Under the LTC
Partnership Program, individuals would be allowed to retain an amount equal to
the amount of long-term care insurance they hold. Therefore, a person who has a
$100,000 policy would be entitled to keep $100,000 in assets when Medicaid steps
in. That means Medicaid would realize savings of $100,000, based on the amount
paid by the policy, and the individual would be able to keep $100,000."
"This is a commonsense
bill that will help to lower health care costs and protect consumers in cases
where long-term care is needed," Corman said. "Long-term care is the largest
single line item in the public welfare budget, and we must look at all
alternatives to reduce the growth of this taxpayer funded program."
Senate Bill 548 now goes
to the House of Representatives for consideration.
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