Sen. Sanders ups the ante on Medicare for All with LTC

Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, is raising the Medicare for All stakes by proposing the addition of long-term care to his proposal.

The Associated Press reports that even though Medicare for All is not likely to find a welcome in the Senate, the addition of LTC to the proposal raises the stakes for other Democrats seeking the presidency.

While some have already criticized the potential for increased cost that Medicare for All presents, the addition of LTC to the equation could further split the moderate Democrats from the more progressive among those planning a 2020 run.

According to AP, potential candidates Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Kamala Harris of California have said they’ll support Sanders’ more ambitious bill—and while Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts did back the 2017 version, she hasn’t theorized on how long-term care might affect that.

Cost notwithstanding, Americans largely favor the notion of LTC in a Medicare-type format by a ratio of about 2 to 1. This even includes more than half of Republicans, AP reports. Efforts by states to deal with the LTC issue have been mixed, with Maine voters turning down a plan for home care for seniors and the disabled, while the Washington state House put through a plan for a limited cash benefit to help pay for such care.

Just 7 to 8 million people actually have LTC coverage, thanks in part to both health screening requirements and high costs. But the new House Medicare for All bill, sponsored by Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-WA and Debbie Dingell, D-MI, would allow people of any age to qualify for coverage if “illness, injury or age limit their ability to perform at least one ‘activity of daily living,’ such as bathing or dressing, or one or more ‘instrumental activities of daily living,’ such as managing money or taking prescribed medications.”

Disability rights advocates have been lobbying hard for inclusion of those needing LTC in a Medicare for All bill, and Sanders’ coming new edition of his 2017 bill, according to AP, will add coverage for home- and community-based services such as adult day care, and adaptions to the home for people with disabilities. The coverage would be available to people of any age.

Read more: 

• 4 approaches to expanding health care (and only one is Medicare for All)
• Long-term care insurance safety net has huge holes
• 3 key takeaways from Dems’ new Medicare for All bill