Discuss Long Term Care, Its Importance, Concerns Of Policy Makers (Coursework Sample)

LONG-TERM CARE
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INTRODUCTION
According to (Medicare, n.d.), Long-term care also referred to as Activities of Daily Livings (ADLs) consists of a variety of services that one may require meeting his/her personal needs. In most cases, long-term care does not involve medical care but the basic day-to-day activities of life. Such activities include; bathing, dressing, use of the toilet, feeding, doing laundry, paying bills and many more. In most cases, people need long-term care because of disability, illness, terminal conditions, old age problems and many more. It is estimated that 60% of human beings will need long-term care at a time in their life due to the conditions mentioned above, (Day, 2017).
Importance of long-term care
Being independent is the most conducive way of planning for yourself. In the life we are living, we all have our own budgets and responsibilities, for instance, family, our own health issues and many more, and therefore to avoid “bugging” family and friends later, it is important that, when we can plan for ourselves, we take advantage of the opportunities and do something for our own benefits in the future.
Long-term care is not cheap it ranges between $0 to potentially over $1 million as we may think especially if it is caused by a disease like a chronic disease that can last a lifetime. Therefore, it is important to think about long-term care and even plan for the risks that can happen in the future and avoid risks like depression once you know you cannot afford the kind of money required. For instance, through the help of an insurance firm (Pfau, 2015).
Approximately, 70% of old people age at 65 years. And if one plans for long-term care he/ she will have a good chance of experiencing quality services. This enables one to understand the service options available at your local home area, the special conditions that are required to receive certain services, for example, service cost, payment options and many more. (Creighton Law Offices, n.d.) With knowledge of long-term care, one is able to make his/her decisions on where he/ she would want to have the services. This is important due to the costs that abide by long-term services
Policy makers concerns
According to CITATION Jas13 \l 1033 (Kane, 2013), a few number of citizens in the USA have made plans or even thought about their needs even taking the basic steps that are talking to family members about what the issue has not happened. After doing research, 52% of the elderly people gave a response of concern about losing their independence and rely on others as they age, 44% were moderately worried about the issue while 35% have set aside some money for their long-term needs. The large percent of worrying is caused by wrong guesses about how much long-term care will cost, some believe Medicare will assist them.
LTC is expensive and it is becoming more expensive each day. The cost of TLC overtook inflation since 2003 where the cost of a private room in a nursing home is $ 90,520. The government covers 63% of LTC funding, Medician 40% while Medicare 3% and there is that percentage that is taken care of by family members (Calmus, 2013). This means that it is becoming hard for the TLC fees to be reached compared to the country's economy.
The policymakers are concerned with the future financial practicability of pension, health and social insurance systems both private and public and implication of these systems for savings and investment rates. The period at which people can work, pay taxes, save will feature prominently in the consequences of population ageing. Many people already work less than half a lifetime because of extended periods of schooling and training in early life, earlier retirement, and enhanced longevity, posing a challenge to the sustainability of systems designed to support older persons. If the trend toward increased longevity continues without a parallel extension in working life, the stress on these systems could be even greater. (Committee, 2001)
Medicare-Medicaid Integration
The objective is to link the two institutions so as to provide efficient, person-centred health care, and people qualified for both programs. According to a Policy Brief, 2016 The main goal of the integration is developing quality services. This is achieved by following certain attributes listed below
1 Everyone has a variety of needs and goals that can be either medical or non-medical. They are identified and evaluated on an ongoing basis to drive care plans
2 Everyone’s needs are addressed in a compassionate, meaningful, and person-focused way and incorporated into a care plan that is tailored, safe, and timely
3 Individuals have a cohesive, easily navigable delivery system so that they can get the services and information they want by themselves or with support when needed, and avoid the services they do not need or want.
4 Individuals and their family/caregivers continually inform the way the delivery system is structured to ensure that it is addressing their needs and providing resources tailored to them.
The above-mentioned attributes can be illustrated through the California Program where 1.2 million Californian’s receive their care and services through both Medicare and Medicaid (Medi-Cal in the state)
Person-centered care
Person-centered care puts older adults who have Medicare at the centre of the decision-making process. Successful, scalable models make use of a team that considers the full range of needs of individuals and their families. Person-centered care means that a person's values and preferences guide all aspects of healthcare and support realistic health and life goals.
A good person-centred care should have the following characteristics:
* Care supported by one team with the person at the centre
* Personalized, goal-oriented care plan based on a person’s values and preferences and regular review of goals
* A primary contact on the health care responsible for coordination and communication
* Care coordination among all health care and supportive services with continual information sharing
* Education and training on person-centred care for providers and other individuals involved in care
* On-going feedback to assess outcomes and well-being for continuous quality improvement
Long-term care financing
This goal seeks to create affordable and viable long-term care financing options for working Americans while engaging the public on the need for these tools. The financial structure of the long-term is user-friendly to policymakers and stakeholders when creating affordable, accessible financing prices that will suit the needs of individuals, families, state & federal g...