Perhaps the greatest fear facing senior citizens and their children is that they will be stricken with a long-term illness that will destroy all of their savings. This is still a concern today, but it was a much greater concern 30 years ago until President Ronald Reagan stepped up to protect spouses from impoverishment. Now, the two Republicans atop the presidential ticket in 2012 want to gut those protections.
Here's what's at stake. Medicare covers doctor bills and hospital bills but it provides for only a short period of nursing home care. If a nursing home patient exhausts his or her own Medicare coverage and all of his or her personal resources, which happens to most Americans after a year or so in a nursing home, Medicaid will then cover the cost of the care. About one-third of all Medicaid payments are for long-term care... |