[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 52 (Thursday, April 15, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H2112-H2113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      FEDERAL EMPLOYEES GROUP LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE ACT OF 1999

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shimkus). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, the provision of long-term care insurance 
coverage to Federal employees is an important priority for me as 
ranking member of the Subcommittee on Civil Service. On January 6, I 
introduced H.R. 110, the Federal Employees Group Long-Term Care 
Insurance Act of 1999. My bill is one of four elements of the 
comprehensive long-term care package proposed earlier this year by 
President Clinton.
  H.R. 110 would authorize the Office of Personnel Management to 
purchase a policy or policies from one or more qualified private sector 
contractors to make long-term care insurance available to Federal 
employees, retirees and eligible family members at group rates. 
Coverage would be paid for entirely by those who elect it.
  The Clinton administration and I support modifying H.R. 110 to extend 
long-term care coverage to employees of the United States Postal 
Service, active duty military personnel, military retirees and their 
families. I believe that extending coverage to Postal employees and 
military personnel would make the risk larger and more diverse and 
would help keep costs down.
  All participants other than active employees and active duty military 
personnel would be fully underwritten, as is standard practice with 
products of this kind. Coverage made available to individuals would be 
guaranteed renewable and could not be canceled except

[[Page H2113]]

for nonpayment of premiums. Though each participant would be 
responsible for paying the full amount of their premiums based on age 
at time of enrollment, group rates will save an estimated 15 to 20 
percent off the costs of individual long-term insurance care policies.
  OPM will be responsible for the administrative costs of the program, 
which is estimated to be only $15 million over a 5-year period. This 
would include developing and implementing a program to educate 
employees about long-term care insurance. Extending OPM's market 
efforts to postal employees, active duty military personnel and 
retirees would, however, increase first year administrative costs above 
what is included in this estimate.
  To date, the Subcommittee on Civil Service has held three hearings on 
offering long-term care insurance as a benefit option for Federal 
employees. We have heard the testimony of people who have had to bear 
the tremendous costs of providing long-term care for a loved one. We 
have heard testimony from the Office of Personnel Management on long-
term care insurance carriers, about the best approach for implementing 
a long-term care program for Federal employees.
  At the subcommittee's most recent hearing in Jacksonville, Florida, 
which was held just a week ago, I heard from witnesses who testified 
how important it is for Americans to invest in long-term care 
insurance, particularly women. A study last week found that women are 
more vulnerable to the financial and emotional strains associated with 
long-term care. Women live longer, generally earn less than men, save 
less for their retirement, receive lower Social Security payments, and 
are often caregivers when a family member becomes ill or infirm.
  The American Health Care Association commissioned a national 
telephone survey of 800 adult Americans between the ages of 34 and 52 
years of age, baby boomers, in September of 1998. As it pertains to 
women, the study found the following:
  Among baby boomers, men save on the average of one-third more than 
women save for their retirement. More than one-third of all boomer 
women expect to be a caregiver for a family member. Female boomer 
caregivers are almost twice as likely to expect to provide care for a 
parent or in-law as they are to provide it for their husband. Half of 
the women in the study said that they had to reduce the number of hours 
they worked and give up space in their homes to provide this care. In 
addition, sizeable percentages said that they had to hire nursing help, 
incur large expenses, and quit their jobs or take a leave of absence as 
a result of their caregiving responsibilities.
  More than 7 in 10 female boomers say that they are concerned about 
saving enough for retirement, while nearly two-thirds say they are 
concerned about saving enough to pay for long-term care. Finally, 58 
percent of boomers support the idea of offering quality long-term care 
insurance to Federal employees to set a national example to encourage 
businesses to offer this benefit to their employees.
  I believe that H.R. 110 will help to raise the general public's 
awareness of the need for long-term care insurance and underscore the 
limitations associated with the reliance on Medicaid for one's long-
term care needs.

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