The federal Commission on Long-Term Care is getting sympathetic but weak reviews for an early version of its policy recommendations.
Congress created the 15-member, bipartisan commission earlier this year. The commission is supposed to send its recommendations to Congress in a few days and then disband.
In a preliminary set of recommendations released Friday, the commission called for a longer-lasting committee to look at LTC financing.
The commission itself is making only modest financing recommendations. It suggested, for example, the consumers should be able to use 529 plans to save for LTC costs, but it said nothing about ways to improve private long-term care insurance (LTCI).
Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI), said the commission had little hope of resolving an issue as complex as LTC financing, given that Congress gave the panel so little time to develop its recommendations and that the commission has been operating in such a heated political climate.
"In terms of long-term care insurance, those who were hoping the commission might recommend a new social program must be disappointed," Slome said. "The private marketplace will continue."
Nancy LeaMond, an executive vice president at AARP — a nonprofit group with an arm that has been selling large amounts of private LTCI coverage — also mentioned the tight limits on the commission's time.
AARP likes commission recommendations that call for the country to give family caregivers more support, LeaMond said.
