Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) on Wednesday unveiled his plan for universal healthcare coverage. The plan emphasizes restructuring long-term care.
Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, suggests that the government change the focus of long-term care funding from traditional nursing homes and healthcare facilities to home-based care. Long-term care services and supports constitute a significant portion of national health spending, and changing to a home-based model of care could improve quality of care and reduce costs, the senator’s office said in a statement.
Prior to the plan’s release, Bruce Yarwood, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association, warned against shifting resources away from skilled nursing facilities. He cited a recent Avalere Health study that finds home-based care models do not significantly reduce overall long-term care costs. Meanwhile, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care in a statement Wednesday complimented Baucus for including post-acute and long term care components in his proposal, and pressed for reform of Medicare’s post-acute care financing structure.
