Democrat Booker unveils plan for Americans to age at home

[DonViejo]

JULY 15, 2019 / 6:16 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Tim Reid
2 MIN READ

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker was set to unveil a plan on Monday to greatly increase funding for elderly Americans needing long-term health care, and also to increase funding for people who look after them.

Booker, a U.S. senator from New Jersey, was due to tell a forum in the early voting state of Iowa that he would make a dramatic investment in care for people with long-term health care needs if he was elected president.

One of the core parts of Booker’s plan would be to provide funds so that low- and middle-income Americans could have the choice to age in their own homes, and increase pay for care workers to look after them.

Booker was due to unveil his plan at a forum held by AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, in Des Moines, Iowa. The AARP is a powerful, non-profit organization that advocates for people as they age, and has roughly 40 million members.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-booker/democrat-booker-unveils-plan-for-americans-to-age-at-home-idUSKCN1UA0YI

[Hoyt]

1. Always like proposals for home care vs. nursing home care, when home care is medically possible.

[MineralMan]

2. That's a good alternative, except when it's not.

Right now, my parents, who are just a few days from turning 95 years old, are living in an assisted living facility, with the maximum care package it offers. It's very expensive, but they have enough resources to cover it for longer than they will live.

Every once in a while, my father talks about moving back home. He shouldn't. My mother has advanced dementia, and he is feeble and can't get around hardly at all. They need the staff where they are. Now, they'd hire 24-hour care with one aide, but, one aide is not enough for their needs. Just getting down to the dining hall for them requires two aides, for just a few minutes. but it definitely requires two aides. They can't handle meal preparation. They can't make their own bed, do their own laundry, or much of anything else, really.

To make it safely in their own home, they'd need two full-time aides, except at night, when they could get by with one. They don't believe that, but it's absolutely true. My mother doesn't recognize their house any longer, and they live in a one-bedroom apartment now, where they use the bedroom, bathroom and about half of the living room. They can't walk without assistance. My mother requires assistance in the bathroom.

I've had experience with home healthcare aides, and it wasn't a great experience. Working with an agency, we never knew what aide would show up, and sometimes an aide we had never met turned up for shifts. There were language barriers in most cases, and other issues with the aides' competence, patience and capabilities.

So, I'm trying to discourage it with my parents. That's all I can do, since my father has his wits about him and is a stubborn old coot, to say the least. It's challenging, and I live 2000 miles away. Fortunately, my sister and her husband live in the same town, but they're in their 70s, just like I am, and so there are health issues for them, as well.

Home care is great, if it's great home care. If it's not, home care can be a nightmare.

[Hoyt]

3. I get it. But home care, no matter how bad, is better than a stay in Medicaid funded long-term

nursing facility. That’s what most people have. I’d rather die first.

[MineralMan]

4. It all depends. One of the growing problems is staffing.

In most areas, long-term care facilities have a great deal of trouble hiring and retaining staff. So do home-care agencies. That problem is going to continue to get worse. Poorly-trained health care staff is among the most critical concerns out there right now. Pay is lousy, working conditions suck, and the work is mind-breaking, really.

Some of the people I've encountered in the elder care system who work as staff are awful. They hate their job. They hate their patients, and they hate their pay. The Medicaid-funded nursing homes end up with the dregs of potential aides and other staff members. The competition among other facilities is fierce, because there is a shortage of workers.

That has led to horrible outcomes for patients, many of whom have no family who shows up regularly and can monitor the care being given.

Home health care agencies run the gamut from terrible to sort of OK. We went through several with my wife's parents. Even if you can afford to pay for home-care, you're at the mercy of the agencies that supply the workers. Unless someone from the family has time to make regular, unannounced visits, neglect is common. Or worse. We had to do a daily count of medications to prevent theft of pain medications in particular. The temptations are strong to divert meds into personal use or to sell. Stuff of value kept disappearing, too. Unless you checked regularly, something small that had value would just not be there one day. Who took it? Who knows. Reporting it got something like, "Well are you sure it was still there or maybe your parents gave it away?" We tried video cameras, but they got blocked by objects a lot of the time.

The problem is that it's a poorly-paid job, in general. Too many workers are just not motivated to provide quality care.

It is beyond frustrating to be constantly trying to make sure aging parents are receiving the care they should be. Unless a family member is there much of the time, things quickly slide and care is not properly delivered.

[bluewater]

6. Thanks for sharing.

[Kind of Blue]

5. That's great news for us caught between raising kids and caring

for our elderly, ill and eventually dying parents. It was an honor and I don't regret a thing because it was out of the question to put either one of them in a care facility. But we sure could have used some help.

I wish Booker could propose it in the Senate now. Bravo to him for considering many of our issues I didn't think was even a thing for politicians

[mcar]

7. A very good idea