SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS OF A LONG-TERM CARE AWARENESS WEEK -- (House of Representatives - October 15, 2007)

[Page: H11519] GPO's PDF

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Ms. BALDWIN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 133) supporting the goals and ideals of a Long-Term Care Awareness Week.

The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.

The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:

H. Con. Res. 133

Whereas the Department of Health and Human Services has reported that approximately 60 percent of individuals who are over the age of 65 will need some kind of long-term care services and at some point more than 40 percent of such individuals will require nursing home care;

Whereas in 2005 the Government Accountability Office projected that by 2040 the number of individuals in the age group of individuals who are 85 years of age or older, which it finds is the age group most likely to require long-term care services, is projected to increase more than 250 percent from 4,300,000 individuals in 2000 to 15,400,000 individuals;

Whereas the Internet site of the National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information notes that the Medicare program does not generally pay for most long-term care services that are needed and that the Medicare program pays for skilled nursing facility services only after a recent hospital stay, that Medicare beneficiaries generally pay more than $118 in daily coinsurance beginning on the 21st day of coverage and coverage ends after 100 days, and that the Medicare program does not cover a stay in an assisted living facility or adult day care;

Whereas an AARP study in 2006 found that 59 percent of people in the United States who are 45 years of age or older overestimated the level of coverage under the Medicare program for nursing home care and more than half of such people who are 45 years of age or older indicate they believe such program provides coverage for assisted living, which it does not;.