Long Term Care Home Essay

Over the last 8 years especially, the national spotlight has been focused on government programs, specifically Medicare and Medicaid, whether these opinions be positive or negative. Although many people believe that these governmental acts only include negative aspects, this is in fact wrong, as there are many positives. Medicare, the commonly known health insurance program for people 65 and older, has positively contributed to the American society for the past 50 years. Medicare has helped elders financially , increased the quality of care we give to elders, and provided more jobs throughout its existence.

In addition, Community Care Services provides much needed monitoring and support service to ensure the older person is able to live in their own home. They cover everything from community nursing, meals, domestic help, personal care, home modifications, transport and day therapies and support for people with cultural and identifiable needs, as well as for people with particular health conditions. For example, meals on wheels services provide a nutritional food, Vital Call service to help the aged people in an emergency case. Some of the ways may support the older people are get assistance with “home help”,

Things such as food, energy bill, gasoline, mortgage and rent consume a large amount of seniors

Medicare provides federal health insurance coverage to millions of elderly, and disabled Americans. As of 2015 data by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicare covers 55 million people. Medicare covers people age 65 and older, people younger than 65 with certain disabilities, and people of all ages with End-Stage Renal Disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Medicare, 2015). Medicare consists of several different components, including: Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D. This Federal health insurance program, Medicare, is financed by several sources, including taxes, revenue, and premiums. Each part of Medicare has different eligibility requirements and provides different benefits, and covered services.

Medicare is a program created by the Social Security Act of 1965. It is a federally run medical health insurance program aimed at medical coverage for senior citizens over 65 years of age. Over the years, the program has expanded to cover other beneficiaries such as individuals with disabilities and has also evolved to add prescription drug benefits. The program has been immensely successful in bringing health services to millions of senior citizens and individuals with disabilities. Despite this success, Medicare has faced a myriad of challenges most importantly budgetary projections that predict a rise in Medicare cost due to the “Baby Boomers” becoming eligible while having fewer workers per retiree to fund Medicare. The government has turned to managed care plans in cost saving measures and to bolster the quality and efficiency of their Medicare. While this summary might not exhaustively delve into the complicated web of Medicare but it will highlight what is looming in the horizon; the struggle to find new and innovative ways to finance Medicare for future generations without burdening beneficiaries or taxpayers.

The federal government provides health care insurance called Medicare. The program stared out strictly for those United States citizens who are 65 years of age and older. The plan has changed over the years to covering younger individuals with disabilities and diseases that are accepted by the program, like end-stage renal disease and young people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Medicare covers over 49 million people as of the end of 2015 (Anderson, 2015).

Currently, Medicaid is the premiere funding machine for long term care services. However, Medicaid is a needs based program. In order for an individual to qualify for Medicaid they must be in an financial situation with a very low yearly income. Therefore, this program only covers a fraction of elderly people within the United States at the very beginning of their long term care journey. The only option for individuals who do not immediately qualify for Medicaid is to pay the full cost of these long term care services. These costs can range an upwards of $90,000. An average American will spend around 3 years of their life in a nursing home and the average retirement savings of a family in 2013 was $163,777 (Morrissey, 2016). Therefore a majority of individuals will ultimately deplete their savings and ultimately have to rely on Medicaid and other welfare programs to pay for their long term care and

Documented in Oregon, one individual (Kate Cheney) was sent to a nursing home because her family was tired of caring for her. Kate had spent one unhappy week in the nursing home and her quality of life degraded so tremendously that she was motivated to take her own life. There is no requirement under the Oregon law that “sufficient home and community-based long-term care services be provided to relieve the demands on family members and ease the individual’s feelings of being a burden” (Golden 20). It is extremely upsetting that the daughter or son of an individual could devalue life to such an extent, especially the life of a parent. This lack of caring by family members can cause the patient to request PAS or take their own life.

First and foremost, despite slight recent increases in the amount of income obtained by members of the older population, their economic status is still quite perilous (Federal Interagency Forum, 2012).1 Men in this category have a median income of $27,707, while women continue to lag behind with a median income of $15,362 (AOA & AOCL, 2012). A vast majority of these individuals cite Social Security as their primary source for this income, amounting to 86-percent of the total older population (AOA & AOCL,

Some of the most significant welfare programs in the American human services system are Medicaid, cash assistance, children’s health insurance, and Medicare programs. However, Medicaid programs were passed in 1965, which in 2010 the program covered 46.9 million people and 70% of the spending goes to the ages and disabled. Although, cost-cutting measures target the elderly and disabled, who have drained most of their life savings in paying nursing home bills. Meanwhile, people who need dental care, eye care, or have the bad luck to live in a state without Medicaid coverage they will have to eat strained food and stop reading. Moreover, cash assistance programs was part of the Social Security Act of 1935, then was changed in 1965 to the Aid to

Group home staff provide training and support as identified in each Individual Support Plan. Assistance may include personal care, budgeting, shopping for personal needs, planning for and participation in leisure activities as well as other areas of need. Residents are encouraged and expected to participate, as much as possible, in maintaining the home including meal preparation, housekeeping, and laundry. Families are encouraged to participate in the annual planning process and to identify areas of need as they arise throughout the year.

Long-term care can be defined as a broad set of paid and unpaid services for people who are mentally or physically disabled, or whose chronic illness places them in need of medical or personal assistance for long periods of time. “It is estimated that there are more than twelve million Americans of all ages whose mix of serious disability and chronic illness places them at the high risk for functional decline, hospitalization, or nursing home placement.” (Benjamin) Several different populations require long-term care services, and the needs of these populations vary. In addition to the elderly, many of the long-term care users are younger persons with physical disabilities; persons with developmental disabilities; and persons with chronic

The growing concern regarding the financial security of Medicare is one of particular interest to the nearly 72 million baby boomers that become eligible for this government-assisted, and tax-payer bolstered, program over the next two decades. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2010), there will be a rapid increase in baby-boomers between 2010 and 2030, as the entire baby boomer population move into the 65 years and over category (p.3). Political and financial revisions must be made to ensure the security of Medicare as the numbers of individuals paying into this program are soon to be surpassed by the number of individuals drawing-off this program (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). The elderly are also at a disadvantage with transportation to health care visits, picking up prescriptions, and rehabilitation services. There needs to be an establishment of access not only to primary care providers, hospitals, and rehabilitation services, but access to other aspects of the health care system for the elderly population.

With close to 76 million people who will be retiring in the next 10 or so, the big question is “Where are they all going to go?” (Dohm, np). Although they will not all need the care right away, they will need it eventually and with the limitations as of right now it will be very hard to get around this dilemma. One option could be increasing the availability of home health care. Home health care is simply a nurse who does rounds to people’s houses. This helps with those who have had surgery, or in this case who need a little assistance with daily tasks or frequent monitoring (“What’s Home Health Care?”, np). The inevitable changes that occur when aging include; dry, loose skin; gray, white, thin hair; muscular and skeletal problems; heart and circulatory/respiratory issues; deteriorating nervous system; changes in digestion urinary and endocrine systems. The progressing of theses occurrences mean the increasing of amount of help needed. However, this option allows for a decent amount of independence; which in turn will help the patient feel more secure and safe, and help with those with memory illnesses such as Alzheimer's and dementia to experience less confusion and displacement (Simmers, 270-277). Another option would be building upwards on pre-existing nursing homes. By adding other layers, all

According to U.S Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging, 2010, U.S. Social Security Administration, 2012, in 1935, there was an estimate of 7.8 million older adults population which was when the United States government officially defined age 65 as the retirement age in the country. Older adults comprised of 4.1% of the total population in 1900, there as since then been a steady raise 12.4%, 13.0% (40.3 million) in the years 2000 and 2010 respectively. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). Touchy & Jett, 2012 have projected that by 2030, for every 5 Americans 1 of them will be 65 years old or older. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) clarified that about 80% of older adults are nursing at least one chronic medical problem such as coronary illness, malignancy, diabetes, or stroke while about 50% have no less than two unending condition (multi-morbidity). The above stated dynamic increment will have significant ramifications on the country’s financial, political, and particularly social insurance issues. "Propelling age is an uncontrollable variable for having different interminable