Senate Committee Airs Long-Term Care Finance Hearing On Web

By Staff Writer

June 28, 2001 at 08:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, June 28, 9:45 a.m. – The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging is holding a hearing at 10 a.m. today on financing long-term care for the country's 77 million baby boomers.

The committee will air video of the hearing live from its Web site, at http://aging.senate.gov/whatsnew.htm

The committee will also store a recording of the video at the site for later playback.

Witnesses scheduled to appear include Tommy Thompson, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services; Carol O'Shaughnessy, a social legislation specialist with the Congressional Research Service; David Durenberger, chairman of Citizens for Long-Term Care; and Bob Blancato, executive director of the 1995 White House Conference on Aging.

The Health Insurance Association of America, Washington, put out a statement of its own praising the aging committee for addressing the LTC issue and expressing its support for the Long-Term Care & Retirement Security Act of 2001.

The bill, introduced as S. 627 in the Senate and as H.R. 831 in the House, would allow individuals to deduct LTC insurance premiums from their taxable income and provide a $3,000 tax credit for individuals directly responsible for caring for the elderly.

Federal tax relief for long-term care insurance premiums would pay for itself by generating future savings in Medicaid spending, HIAA says.

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