“CLASS” Act seeks to provide long term care with dignity
By U.S Senator Edward Kennedy (Dem.)
A fair and civilized society is judged on how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. Today in America, millions of senior citizens and persons with disabilities still struggle to obtain the support they need to live fulfilling and productive lives in their communities. Many of them are members of the “Greatest Generation,” and our failure to provide them with a solution for long-term care worthy of their immense contribution to our history is shameful.
We made progress in past decades through Social Security, Medicare, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. But countless senior citizens and persons with disabilities still live in poverty with few choices on how they live their lives. Ten million adults in America currently need long-term services and supports. Many are capable and anxious to live full lives in their communities, but they are forced to give up their independence and self-sufficiency in order to qualify for Medicaid - the only program that can support them because they are too young for Medicare and the barriers to private insurance are too high.
I have introduced long overdue bipartisan legislation with Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio to offer greater dignity, greater hope, and opportunity to these eminently deserving Americans. Our proposal, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (the CLASS Act) would create a voluntary, national program in which persons who work and voluntarily pay $30 a month into the program will receive a benefit of either $50 or $100 a day, depending on their ability to carry out certain basic daily activities. They will decide how the assistance is spent – whether for transportation, so they can continue to work; for a ramp, to make their home more accessible; or for a personal care attendant or a family caregiver. It will enable elderly and disabled citizens to continue living in their community, without being penalized for a health condition that prevents them from obtaining private insurance.
Our bill will save on the mushrooming cost of Medicaid, which is now America’s primary insurer of long-term care, since persons will not be forced to give up their jobs and live in poverty in order to qualify for such public assistance. It also will help keep families together, avoiding the obstacles that make it difficult for many seniors and persons with disabilities to live at home or with their families in their own communities. Families and neighbors have much to contribute to one another, and our legislation will enable them to do it.
The program will be self-financing, and can be a hopeful new approach to protecting the independence of millions of Americans, enabling them to take greater control of their lives, and giving them the dignity, hope, and opportunity they deserve.
