what: Nationwide Alzheimer Advocate call-in to encourage Senate to address long-term care in health care reform. Call toll free: 1-866-281-7219
when: On March 3, 2009 8:30am - 4:30 pm Eastern
Tell your Senator:
1. I am calling to tell the Senator to make sure long-term care services and supports are included in health care reform legislation.
2. The cost of long-term care is unaffordable for many families dealing with Alzheimer's disease.
3. I look forward to seeing the Senator demonstrate leadership on this issue.
Call Instructions:
* Call 1-866-281-7219. * The operator will tell you to name your state. * You will be connected directly to one of your US Senators. (The call line is set up to randomly select a Senator for you.) * You do not need to call again to reach your other Senator. One call is enough to make our voices heard loud and clear.
Background President Obama has clearly stated that health care reform is a priority for this year. Long-term care services and supports are an essential part of health care reform.
The Senate Special Committee on Aging is holding a hearing on long-term care services on Mar. 4. The Alzheimer's Association is one of many advocacy groups participating in a national call-in day on March 3 to encourage Senators to include long-term services and supports in health care reform.
The nation lacks a comprehensive national public-private system for financing and delivering long-term care services and supports for individuals with Alzheimer's. We want to see people with Alzheimer's get the support they need. Including long-term care services in health care reform will help improve the qulaity of health care for all Americans and help sustain safety net programs like Medicaid.
A friend who works in government told me one time that even a few calls can make a difference because of what it takes for a person to actually make the call.
My attitude is if you don't make an effort to change/correct a situation, then you don't have the right to complain about it.
We have an appointment with Senator Nelson's aide this month in DC, and are trying to get one with the Senator himself. I met and talked with the senator last year, and he was very receptive. Senator Martinez is leaving next year, so I'm not sure how involved he'll be. We met with his aide last year, and he was great.
On Tuesday Mar. 3, thousands of advocates answered the call to the US Senate about the importance of including long-term care services in health care reform.
Thank you to everyone who took action and asked others to join us. This was the first of many actions we will take to make sure that long-term care is not forgotten.
Your call was heard. "Our message is a simple one: any serious health reform proposal must address long-term care," Chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said during the Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on Mar. 4.
Chairman Kohl, Senators Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.), all members of the Committee, attended the hearing and listened to testimony from experts about improvements that can be made to the long-term care system.
Visit the Senate Special Committee on Aging website to read expert testimony from the hearing.
I listened to it (and played spider on the side). Mostly people reading testimony about their own programs. I don't think I heard any caregivers. There are several models they're describing - adult day care seems to be the way they're mostly going, and "integrative care" which is like the PACE program in some states: they provide everything except a bed at night, all in one place: doctors, day care, medicines.. I investigated the one in RI and I was impressed with what they were trying to do; it's means tested but even if the income level was too high, it wouldn't have been that expensive. But we'd have had to give up everything else, and if it went down the tubes...