(Democratic New York Rep. Tom Suozzi said Tuesday that there is a catastrophe brewing for the country's aging population, and he wants to do something about it.)
In addition to the increasingly growing senior population in the U.S., Suozzi also cited societal factors that are making it harder for aging and disabled seniors to receive the at-home care they need. One is the fact that Americans are having fewer kids, so there will be fewer of them to take care of their aging or disabled parents. Another was the fact that kids are increasingly moving to other parts of the country away from their parents, again increasing the burden for seniors to figure things out on their own.
"There's a lot of people becoming senior citizens right now because the baby boomers, there's less kids available to take care of them, and the kids that are alive don't necessarily live where their parents live. So we've got this big perfect storm brewing, and Medicaid will never be able to solve this problem," according to Suozzi. "And nursing homes — there's just not enough nursing homes. There's not enough money to pay for the nursing homes for all these people. So my legislation is designed to try and encourage the private sector to create long-term care insurance that is affordable."
DEMS WEAPONIZE MEDICAID ANXIETY IN BID TO TAKE DOWN TRUMP-BACKED FEDERAL FUNDING PLAN
Suozzi introduced the "Well-Being Insurance for Seniors to be at Home Act" on Tuesday, which seeks to help more of the country's increasingly older population obtain long-term home care insurance. (Mary Altaffer/AP Photo)
Besides the "perfect storm" that is brewing for seniors, a second storm is also brewing on Capitol Hill right now in regard to how to fund the federal government. Republicans are ramping up reconciliation efforts and, as part of that framework, they are looking for roughly $800 billion in Medicaid cuts. While the Wish Act could help lower the amount of necessary cuts during reconciliation, Suozzi said he feared it was too tight of a window to get enough lawmakers on board.
"I guess there's an argument that it could go in there, if we could demonstrate between now and then that it'll be a big savings in Medicaid," Suozzi told reporters. "I see this is taking the full term of getting people educated about the issue, getting more people interested in the issue, and getting senior advocacy groups and private insurers to advocate on behalf of this idea. So it's not going to happen on its own. It will have to be part of something bigger, but not, I think, until we've educated people about the seriousness of the issue."
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