[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 23, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S3148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 22--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS WITH 
   RESPECT TO PROMOTING COVERAGE OF INDIVIDUALS UNDER LONG-TERM CARE 
                               INSURANCE

  Mr. DODD (for himself and Mr. Grassley) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Finance:

                               S. Res. 22

       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring),

     SECTION 1. PROMOTION OF COVERAGE OF INDIVIDUALS UNDER LONG-
                   TERM CARE INSURANCE.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) As the baby boom generation begins to retire, funding 
     social security and medicare will put a strain on the 
     financial resources of younger Americans.
       (2) Medicaid was designed as a program for the poor, but in 
     many States medicaid is being used for middle income elderly 
     people to fund long-term care expenses.
       (3) In the coming decade, people over age 65 will represent 
     20 percent or more of the population, and the proportion of 
     the population composed of individuals who are over age 85, 
     and most likely to need long-term care, may double or triple.
       (4) With nursing home care now costing an average of 
     $40,000 to $50,000 per year, long-term care expenses can have 
     a catastrophic effect on families, wiping out a lifetime of 
     savings before a spouse, parent, or grandparent becomes 
     eligible for medicaid.
       (5) Many people are unaware that most long-term care costs 
     are not covered by medicare and that medicaid covers long-
     term care only after the person's assets have been exhausted.
       (6) Widespread use of private long-term care insurance has 
     the potential to protect families from the catastrophic costs 
     of long-term care services while, at the same time, easing 
     the burden on medicaid as the baby boom generation ages.
       (7) The Federal Government has endorsed the concept of 
     private long-term care insurance by establishing Federal tax 
     rules for tax-qualified policies in the Health Insurance 
     Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
       (8) The Federal Government has ensured the availability of 
     quality long-term care insurance products and sales practices 
     by adopting strict consumer protections in the Health 
     Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the Federal Government should take all appropriate 
     steps to inform the public about the financial risks posed by 
     rapidly increasing long-term care costs and about the need 
     for families to plan for their long-term care needs;
       (2) the Federal Government should take all appropriate 
     steps to inform the public that medicare does not cover most 
     long-term care costs and that medicaid covers long-term care 
     costs only when the beneficiary has exhausted his or her 
     assets;
       (3) the Federal Government should take all appropriate 
     steps not only to encourage employers to offer private long-
     term care insurance coverage to employees, but also to 
     encourage both working-aged people and older citizens to 
     obtain long-term care insurance either through their 
     employers or on their own;
       (4) appropriate committees of Congress, together with the 
     Department of Health and Human Services and other appropriate 
     executive branch agencies, should develop specific ideas for 
     encouraging Americans to plan for their own long-term care 
     needs; and
       (5) the congressional tax-writing committees, together with 
     the Department of the Treasury, should determine whether 
     modification of the tax rules for long-term care insurance is 
     necessary to ensure that the rules adequately facilitate the 
     affordability of long-term care insurance.

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