Long-term care of the elderly and infirm is a human right.
It is time to uphold that right.
The expense of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or other debilitating disease can force the victim and family into bankruptcy.
Medicare provides no long-term care for Alzheimer’s patients.
Medicaid covers nursing home costs only if the victim’s personal savings and income are exhausted.
I know this crisis personally.
My beloved wife of 56 years suffers from dementia.
Even with a supportive family and a caregiver twice weekly, it is difficult for me to care for her.
That is why I am giving my full support to HB-1087/SB-5331, the Long-term Care Trust Act now pending in the Legislature in Olympia.
Our own Rep. Steve Tharinger is a sponsor of this vital legislation that would provide $100 per day for 365 days to care for a loved one.
Like Social Security and Medicare, the program would be funded by a payroll tax of 58 cents per each $100 of earned wages.
A broad coalition including Seattle-based Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action supports the bipartisan bill.
Sequim Indivisible will host a meeting about the Long-Term Care Act at 2 p.m., Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, 1033 Barr Road, Agnew.
I will share my tribulations.
Others are welcome to share theirs.
HB-1087 is only a first step.
Tim Wheeler,
Sequim