[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 38 (Monday, September 25, 2000)]
[Pages 2127-2129]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Legislation

September 19, 2000

    I should say Joan is, first of all, an amazing person. And her 
husband and her three children are here. Their son and daughter thanked 
me for getting them out of school today. [Laughter] I just want the 
Members of Congress to know there are extended social benefits to these 
sort of--[laughter].
    I want to thank Senators Cleland, Mikulski, and Sarbanes for being 
here, and Representatives Scarborough, Allen, Davis, Morella, Holmes 
Norton, Cardin, Moran, and Cummings for coming. All of these 
Representatives in Congress--I think that's 11--and many more are truly 
responsible for this happy day, and they worked in a genuine bipartisan 
spirit to produce this legislation.
    I want to thank Janice Lachance and the others at the Office of 
Personnel Management who worked so hard on it, and the National 
Association of Retired Federal Employees, the Retired Officers 
Association, the Treasury employees union, and others.
    I'm very honored to be signing this legislation today, so near the 
end of my service, because the first bill I signed as President was the 
family and medical leave law. And since then, some--more than 25 million 
of our fellow citizens have taken time off from work to care for a child 
or an ill loved one without losing their job. It's made a difference in 
America. Everywhere I go, somebody comes up and mentions it to me even 
today.
    We come in the same spirit to sign the Long-Term Care Security Act, 
and over time, this legislation will help more and more families to meet 
the challenge of caring for our parents and grandparents and others in 
our families that need long-term care.
    Part of the long-term care problem is what I affectionately call a 
high-class problem. We're living longer. In 1900 the average American 
couldn't expect to live beyond 50. Today, the average American's life 
expectancy is 77. Americans who live to be 65 have the highest life 
expectancy in the world. They can expect to live to be almost 83. 
Amazing as it sounds, there are currently more than 65,000 living 
Americans who are at least 100 years old. That's enough to fill the 
Houston Astrodome and put two teams on the field. [Laughter] And if we 
do it right, before you know it, some of those 100-year-olds will be fit 
enough to play. [Laughter]
    Now, these numbers are only going to keep rising as the baby boomers 
age. By 2030, one out of every five Americans will be 65 or older, and 
there will be 9 million

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people over 85. I hope to be one of them. [Laughter]
    We all know there are many joys to aging, but unfortunately, there 
are also the challenges to our good health, our independence, and 
sometimes a lifetime of savings. The cost of nursing home care now tops 
$50,000 a year, an extraordinary sum few families can afford. Even home 
care is expensive, as you have just heard, in terms of direct costs, low 
income, and enormous challenges to family time and parent time.
    The legislation I'm about to sign, the Long-Term Care Security Act, 
will help families plan ahead. It will enable current and former Federal 
employees, military personnel, and all their families to choose from a 
menu of quality, long-term care insurance options and purchase their 
choice at reduced group rates. That means as many as 13 million people 
will now be able to plan for the future without fear of financial ruin 
should such care become necessary.
    The legislation also will spur more American companies to offer 
employees the option of affordable high-quality long-term care 
insurance. I believe that. I believe this will lead into the creation of 
a market that will benefit people far beyond the reach of the employees 
and former employees that are covered.
    The insurance industry has called this legislation a model for 
private sector employers, and we thank them for their support, as well. 
We are also pleased that this groundbreaking legislation has, as it must 
have had to pass, enjoyed strong bipartisan backing; further proof that 
not only do Democrats and Republicans both get old, but when we put 
progress before partisanship, we can tackle our toughest challenges.
    Today's signing represents an important step toward meeting the 
phenomenal demographic changes that we're facing in a humane and decent 
and, I believe, highly intelligent way. It helps to make sure that the 
aging of America will be, on balance, a great blessing and not an 
overwhelming burden to our children and our grandchildren.
    Now, as I said, the Long-Term Care Security Act helps many families 
plan for the future, enabling them to buy good insurance. We believe it 
will help a lot of families beyond the reach of the law by creating 
markets which private sector employers will also be able to take 
advantage of for their employees. But we know there are millions of 
people already chronically ill, who can't buy insurance at any price and 
who do need help right now. That's why I'm so glad that Joan and her 
family joined us here today.
    In homes all across America, 7 million of our fellow citizens are 
like the Madarases. Seven million are caring for loved ones, primarily 
elderly loved ones, sometimes children or other close family members who 
have disabilities. For some, it is a joy, a chance to share memories 
over a cup of coffee, a chance to share the rhythm and cycles of life. 
But for others it also includes constant labor or watching the shroud of 
Alzheimer's transform a soul mate into a stranger, as happened to an 
uncle and an aunt of mine. These are burdens that people shoulder every 
day and, as you heard, unapologetically, proudly, loyal to their 
families, understanding that loving someone for a lifetime means taking 
the bad along with the good.
    But the rest of us ought to lighten their load. And we ought to 
recognize that these simple, extraordinary sacrifices, rooted in love 
and loyalty, are also an exceptional boon to society. For whatever their 
cost to these families, the cost to society is far less than it would be 
if they had to give up and put their loved ones in institutionalized 
care.
    So if we were to pass our $3,000 tax credit to provide chronically 
ill Americans and their families with desperately needed financial 
relief, it would be, over the long run, less expensive than paying the 
full cost of institutional care for those who have to give up because 
the burden becomes too heavy. This $27 billion initiative eventually 
could cover up to 60 percent of the cost the families provide--incur--in 
providing long-term care. But as I said, it's only a small percentage of 
the cost that would be involved if the families had to give up providing 
that care.
    It's the kind of tax cut our families most need. It will improve the 
lives of those who need it the most. It will make us a better country 
because we will fully live up to our professed faith and support for 
families.
    After 5 years of waiting, I hope we can also finally reauthorize the 
Older Americans Act. It has helped, for more than 35 years,

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millions of seniors to lead more independent lives by funding vital, 
everyday basics like transportation and Meals on Wheels. And I hope we 
will reauthorize it and strengthen it by funding our caregivers 
initiative, as well, to provide families with the information, 
counseling, and support services they need to sustain their selfless 
missions.
    Finally, I hope that we will succeed in passing a voluntary 
affordable Medicare drug benefit this fall, which also will be a great 
help to families. Many of the people providing long-term care are doing 
it for people with extraordinary medicine requirements. Studies show 
that seniors who lack this kind of coverage are twice as likely to be 
admitted to nursing homes as those who have it. So again, this is not 
only the humane and decent thing to do, it's also common sense. It's 
good for family ties and good for economics.
    We have a golden opportunity, as so many of our fellow citizens move 
into their golden years, to meet the challenges of the aging of America. 
We have never had a better opportunity to do it, because of our 
prosperity and our surplus. So I hope that we will continue to build on 
the spirit embodied in this bill today.
    The Long-Term Care Security Act is worth celebrating. It is worth 
celebrating for what it does, for the indirect benefits it will have for 
people who are not covered by it but whose employers will be able to get 
this kind of group insurance, and for what it says about our values and 
what we can do in the future. I hope that we'll take every opportunity 
to build on it.
    And now I'd like to ask all the folks on the stage with me to gather 
round, and I'll sign the bill.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 11 a.m. in Presidential Hall in the Dwight 
D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to 
Joan Madarases, mother of three, who cares for two disabled family 
members. Ms. Madarases introduced the President. H.R. 4040, approved 
September 19, was assigned Public Law No. 106-265. The Long-Term Care 
Security Act is Title I of Public Law No. 106-265.