[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 102 (Friday, July 20, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1379-E1380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       DEPENDENT CARE TAX CREDIT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN P. MURTHA

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 19, 2001

  Mr. MURTHA. Mr. Speaker, the long-term care debate continues to grow 
as a key health care issue and it will continue to grow more in the 
coming decade as Americans live longer.
  Fortunately, more attention is starting to be focused on long-term 
care; the bad news is that there is a tremendous gap in ideas and 
solutions to make sure every family has access to affordable, quality 
long-term care when it is needed. In Pennsylvania already 1.9 million 
seniors and nearly 220,000 individuals with disabilities rely on 
Medicare to meet long-term costs, and 84,743 Pennsylvanians are in 
nursing homes.
  In the next decade, the first of the ``baby boomers'' will reach 65 
sending the need for long-term care much higher very quickly.
  While long-term care is usually thought of in terms of the elderly, 
two of every five Americans will need long-term care at some point in 
their lives, often because of an injury or disability as well as 
advanced age. It is therefore, essential that the health care system 
provide families with affordable, available options for long-term 
care--options that provide the kind of quality everyone wants to see 
for a family member or friend.
  A major trend in long-term care is away from nursing homes, to keep 
people in their homes or with family as long as possible, to look at 
alternative living arrangements and to stress community support and 
involvement. As we sort through this issue, it is imperative that long-
term care promote individual dignity, maximize independence and self-
sufficiency and be provided in the least restrictive setting--that 
includes providing home and community based, flexible, benefits and 
services.
  The trend in long-term care is moving away from institutions like 
nursing homes. This is

[[Page E1380]]

well illustrated in Pennsylvania where most people, particularly the 
elderly, dread the idea of leaving their home and family and moving to 
a nursing home. Consumers have become more sophisticated and are 
looking for alternatives of service and care that will allow people to 
retain their independence, including staying in their home or with 
family-member care givers.
  Research suggests that a highly important cultural change is at 
work--a trend toward home and community based long-term care services. 
This means that government must recognize this important shift and 
encourage the expansion of home and community-based care programs and 
services.
  While current government policies support and promotes public funding 
for institutionalized care (the type of care that those in need do not 
prefer) society has come to rely almost exclusively on informal family-
care givers to provide the type of care desired by the majority of care 
recipients.
  Researchers estimate that the value of care giving responsibilities 
regularly assumed by family members and friends exceeded $200 billion 
in 1997. In comparison, federal spending for formal home care in 1997, 
was $32 billion, with an additional $83 billion for nursing home care.
  Informal or family-care givers provide more long-term care and 
support, free of charge and with limited support, than the federal 
government in all settings combined.
  The obvious question becomes: how about paying or providing relief to 
the informal or family-care giver? I am taking steps to do just that by 
introducing legislation to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
provide a $1,200.00 tax credit for care givers of individuals with 
long-term care needs.
  A $1,200.00 tax credit is the logical first step designed to 
recognize and compensate care givers for the long-term cost associated 
with informal or family-care giving.

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