[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 1 (Monday, January 11, 1999)]
[Pages 2-5]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Announcing a Long-Term Health Care Initiative

January 4, 1999

    The President. Thank you, Patricia, for your fine statement and for 
the power of your example. And we appreciate you and your husband being 
here today and the work that you're doing.
    We thank Congressman Hoyer for bringing his constituent here today. 
And we welcome Senator Reid, Senator Breaux, Senator Specter, Senator 
Dodd, Senator Wyden, Congressmen Brown, Cardin, Moran, and Cummings. And 
I'd also like to say, Senator Mikulski has a special interest in this 
issue and wanted to be here today, but could not.
    You know, this new year gives us all a sense of making a fresh 
start, a sense of being able to think anew. It should also give us a 
sense of rededication. I'm delighted to see here, along with the members 
of our administration, Secretary Rubin, Secretary Shalala, and Janice 
Lachance, so many advocates not only for seniors but for the disabled.
    We need to be looking ahead at the issue that Patricia Darlak 
described so clearly and powerfully, to the challenges that the new 
century will present us, because there will be many, many, many more 
stories like hers. That is the fundamental reality. Already there are 
millions of people out there helping to care for an aged or disabled 
loved one, but there will be many more like her in the 21st century.
    Now, that is, for those of us who are part of the baby boom 
generation, what we would call a high-class problem because we will be 
``them''--``they''--we will be ``they.'' Is that the right--but the baby 
boom is about to become a senior boom, and like the baby boom, the 
senior boom will change the face of America. During the next 30 years, 
76 million baby boomers will join the ranks of the retired. The number 
of elderly Americans will double by 2030; by the middle of the next 
century, the average American will live to an age of 82. That's 6 years 
longer than the average life expectancy today.
    Now, as I said, those of us who hope to be in that group consider 
that a high-class problem. We also are very encouraged that people are 
living stronger, healthier lives. We

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are encouraged that disabled Americans have more options to live fully 
and healthily for a longer period of time. We are encouraged that all 
these folks are proving that retirement can be a beginning as well as an 
end. We see all kinds of people learning new ideas, taking up new work, 
doing new community services, traveling and going places they never 
would have imagined before.
    But we know that with aging, inevitably, come the infirmities of 
age. Nearly half the people over 85, one of the fastest growing segments 
of our population, need help with everyday, basic tasks--eating, 
dressing, going to a doctor. We cannot expect that every older American 
will be able to fend for himself or herself. And the real question is 
what are our obligations to help every American get the care that is 
appropriate for each individual case?
    Millions require the care that can only be provided in a nursing 
home. But millions more choose to remain at home with family and 
friends. Indeed, the elderly are remaining at home in record number. The 
same is true of people with disabilities. Today, millions and millions 
of households are caring for elderly relatives or even for neighbors. 
They represent the best of America, fulfilling a family obligation, 
often unspoken but deeply resonant in the American character.
    Providing long-term care at home is more and more a common choice, 
but as you have just heard, it is rarely an easy one. Since this kind of 
care is almost never covered by private insurance or Medicare, out-of-
pocket expenses can be staggering. So, too, are the professional costs. 
Caregivers who hold jobs outside the home--that is, the vast majority--
may have to take unpaid leave or work fewer hours to fulfill their 
responsibilities. In countless ways, caregiving is vital, meaningful 
work. But as you have heard, it can also be very stressful.
    The First Lady has mentioned some of the things we have worked to do 
to ease the burden of families: improving nursing homes, strengthening 
Medicare, making Medicaid more flexible. But more will be asked of us in 
the 21st century, and more must be done.
    Today we announce a critical new initiative to give care to the 
caregivers, to help Americans provide long-term care for aging, ailing, 
and disabled loved ones. The size of the senior boom demands it. The 
needs of our disabled population require it. The length of our lives 
makes it more important than ever and so does the sacrifice of American 
families who put the well-being of their relatives above their own.
    This is a complicated challenge that requires a range of responses. 
Therefore, to improve long-term care in America and to give it a 
priority and support these families, we proposed to do four things:
    First, to provide a long-term care tax credit--$1,000 for people 
with long-term care needs or for the families that shelter them. It is 
far better to devote this money to help keep the elderly and the 
disabled at home than to spend the same amount to pay for them to live 
away from home. And if it makes it possible for more people to stay 
home, it may well be cheaper, too. Our parents worked and saved and 
sacrificed for us in our youth; adult children are now working, saving, 
and sacrificing for their parents in old age. It is the cycle of life 
and one we should recognize and reward.
    This targeted tax cut of $1,000, paid for in our balanced budget, 
would meet the individual needs of individual families, supplementing 
the care they already provide, empowering them to decide what to do and 
how to do it best. It would help to offset the direct cost of long-term 
care, like home health visits and adult day care; as well as the 
indirect costs, like unpaid leave some caregivers must take. The care 
they provide is invaluable, but we can show that it is valued by our 
society.
    Second, we should create a family caregiver support program, a new 
national network to support people caring for older Americans. In 
decades past, families could do little for ailing relatives but give 
them shelter and love. But today, because of advances in science, 
caregivers tend to everything, from dialysis to depression, preparing 
intravenous meals, and insulin injections. This initiative enables 
States to create one-stop shops, places caregivers can access the 
resources of the community, find technical guidance, obtain respite and 
adult day care services. This is especially important for those families 
who are thousands of miles

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away from their loved ones but who still want to help. These families 
want to provide the best possible care. We want to do everything in our 
power to help them.
    Third, we must educate Medicare beneficiaries about long-term care 
options. Medicare does not cover most kinds of long-term care, so it is 
important that beneficiaries understand their alternatives.
    This initiative helps to answer essential questions efficiently: 
What are my choices; what should I look for in private long-term care 
insurance policies? By launching a national education campaign, we can 
help to ensure people get the answers they need when they need them and 
the quality care they deserve.
    Fourth, I am proposing that the Federal Government, as the Nation's 
largest employer, use its market leverage to set an example, offering 
private long-term care insurance to Federal employees. By promoting 
high-quality, affordable care, we can encourage more people and more 
companies to invest in long-term care coverage. We can help more 
employees in every part of our economy to prepare for the future.
    There's no single solution to the challenges of caregiving. But 
together, these initiatives represent a powerful first step to force the 
kind of changes we need in our society. To fulfill our fundamental 
obligations to older Americans and people with disabilities, we must act 
together, members of both parties, both branches of Government, putting 
progress above partisanship. I believe there is an enormous amount of 
interest in and support for this initiative in the Congress, and I thank 
the Members who have come here today.
    I hope that the Congress will do many things on this front in the 
coming session; I hope these initiatives will pass. Senator Breaux will 
soon give us a Medicare Reform Commission report. I hope we will save 
Medicare for the 21st century. I hope we will use the surplus to save 
Social Security for the 21st century. All of these things will help to 
strengthen America as we go forward.
    The senior boom is one of the central challenges of the coming 
century. I can tell you that as, literally, the oldest of the baby 
boomers, those of us born right after World War II, one of the central 
worries of my generation is that, as we age, we will impose 
unsustainable burdens on our children and undermine their ability to 
raise our grandchildren. We must use this time now to do everything in 
our power, not only to lift the quality of life and the security of the 
aged and disabled today, and the baby boom aged and disabled, but to 
make sure that we do not impose that intolerable burden on our children.
    I have asked the Vice President, who will speak with us, along with 
Mrs. Gore, in just a moment, to conduct a series of forums around the 
country on this initiative, to solicit other ideas and reach out to 
people and to build grassroots support. We want to hear from the people 
of the country about how we can help to meet the long-term care needs of 
their loved ones.
    Again, let me thank all the people in the administration who worked 
on this, the Members of Congress who are here, the members of the aging 
and disability community who are here. And I thank you, Patricia Darlak, 
for your moving statement. Hillary and I have had our own experiences 
with long-term care of our parents--in my case, our grandparents. We 
have seen the Vice President and Mrs. Gore deal with the same challenge. 
So this is a personal thing that I think we feel very deeply.
    I'd like to say a special word of appreciation to the Vice 
President, because he's had such an interest in our family caregiving 
program. He is now going to speak to us from California. He's coming up 
on the satellite, along with Mrs. Gore, and he's got some folks with him 
who know quite a bit about this.
    Good morning, Mr. Vice President. The floor is yours. Good morning, 
Tipper.

[At this point, Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, made brief 
remarks by satellite.]

    The President. Thank you very much. I want to thank the Vice 
President and Tipper, and also all the folks that are out there with 
them in California, for the example they are setting and the initiatives 
that are being made in California. I know the Vice President is

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about to go to the new Governor's inauguration out there. You ought to 
take the opportunity to put in a plug for what we're doing there. I'm 
sure you will. [Laughter]
    Ladies and gentlemen, let me say, again, how grateful I am for all 
the people who worked on this proposal, for the advocates for the 
elderly and the disabled who are here, for the very large representation 
from Congress. And thank you, again, for the passion and the commitment 
that you manifested in your statement and for having the courage to come 
here and tell us about your situation. I hope it will help to change the 
future of America.
    God bless you, and happy New Year. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:36 a.m. in the Grand Foyer on the State 
Floor at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to caregiver 
Patricia Darlak, who introduced the President, and her husband, Dennis.