This month, the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance is reaching out through the Internet, and through the traditional media and Web media, to ask President Obama and Governor Romney to help Americans plan for long-term care (LTC) expenses.
We want the candidates to help us make long-term care insurance (LTCI) premiums fully deductible for at least five years.
Americans are aging. Medicare is already teetering. But most of the talk about Medicare fails to confront the threat facing Medicaid as aging Americans turn to that program for help with paying for nursing home care.
Congress started Medicaid to help the poor.
Both the federal government and the states fund state Medicaid programs, and state officials manage the programs.
The programs are spending more and more of their limited funding on financially comfortable people who want to avoid selling assets to pay for nursing home care.
Making LTCI premiums tax deductible and the policy benefits tax-free for all individuals would help relieve the burden on Medicaid programs, by getting more taxpayers to plan ahead to pay for LTC expenses using private programs rather than leading those taxpayers to rely on the government.
At the federal level, Congress responded to concerns about retirement plan by creating the 401(k) retirement plan program. More than 50 million workers now participate in 401(k) plans.
