Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

  • Home
  • Products
    • GCM Manual New 5th Edition
    • VIP Care Management White Paper
    • Books
    • Geriatric Care Management – 4th Edition
    • Mom Loves You Best
    • Care Managers
  • Online Classes
    • GCM Operations Manual Online Course
    • Geriatric Care Management Business Online Course
    • CEUs for Individual Modules
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Past Webinars
  • Recommendations
  • About
  • Blog
    • Aging
    • Geriatric Care Manager
    • Siblings
    • Webinar
  • Contact

Biden’s Care Infrastructure Passed House -Wins & Losses 4 Seniors???

November 23, 2021

 

Biden’s Care Infrastructure Passed The House

Biden’s 1 Trillion $ Care Infrastructure Passed the House through the brilliant work of speaker Nancy Pelosi which was a great boost for deadly climate change, Child Tax Credits,paid parental leave and so much more. For seniors, the good news is it covers 

  • New hearing benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, including coverage for a new hearing aid every five years.
  • A $35-per-month limit on the cost of insulin under Medicare and a cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000
    $1.2 billion in new spending for critical
    programs and services under the Older Americans Act (OAA).
     
  • Dental & Vision Coverages Dropped But Sanders Tries to Save

    The Care Infrastructure Bill passed but it dropped expanding dental and vision benefits after centrists called for paring down the overall cost of the package, which originally was proposed for $3.5 trillion.

    The framework  of the Care Infrastructure Bill also doesn’t include legislation to give Medicare the power to negotiate for lower drug prices, but senators say that it would eliminate a rule that gets rid of the safe harbor for Part D drug rebates.

    Senator Bernie Sanders is trying to work vision and dental back into the Care Infrastructure  bill and is outraged that both were dropped. 2-5 voters want dental and vision back in the bill

     

    • Across political parties, 
    • Across political parties, voters’ top priority for the bill is adding dental and vision benefits to Medicare, which was cut from the White House’s latest framework after intense pushback from dental groups and amid concerns about the price tag. Still, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) indicated he is trying to work Medicare coverage for dental and vision services back into the final bill
    • If You Are In Aging Call Your Congressman

    Care Infrastructure Bill may not pass it’s next big hurdle , the Senate if folks in health care and older constituents do not contact their congressman or woman and tell them to support this bill. Your Congresswoman or man controls the votes for the bill and you have to let them know you will only vote for them if they do. Common Cause has this easy way to find and contact your congressman  If you believe in Medicare and senior’s right to to not have their teeth rot, not hear their grandkids or be unable to read a book-  so please  email, pick up the phone now.

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Bernie Sanfers, Biden Infrastructure Bill Passing, Biden's Care Infrastructure Bill, Biden's Caregiver Bill, Biden's Caregiver Infastucure Paln, Biden's VA Infrastructure Bill, Biden’ social and environmental infrastructure package, Black Aging Family, Black Entrepreneur, Black Entrepreneur RB, Black Entrepreneur RN, Black entrepreneurs, Black Geriatric Care Manager, Black geriatric care managers, Black RN, Black Travel Nurses, Black Travel RN, Blog, care economy, Care Infastructure, Care Infrastructure, Care Infrastructure Dental, Care Infrastructure Hearing, Care infrastucture Vision, caregiver, caregiver infrastructure, Caregiver Infrastructure bill, Caregiver living wage, Caregiver low salary, case manager, Dental, Dental Coverage Medicare, Families, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, Hearing Coverage Medicare, Infrastructure Bill, Medicaid caregiver, Medicaid Caregivers, Medicare, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Vision Coverage Medicare Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, aging life or geriatric care management, aging parent care, aging parent crisis, ALCA, Biden's Infrastructure Bill, Biden's infrastructure- Caregiver Bill, Call Your Congressman, Care Economy, Care infrastructure, Care infrastrucure Bill Passed, care management, care manager, care provider stress, case manager, Congress&Infrastructure Bill, Dental Coverage Medicare, geriatric care infrastructure, geriatric care manager, Hearing Coverage Medicare, infrastructure Medicare jobs, limit on cost insulin, Nancy Pelosi, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Vision Coverage Medicare

FDA Proposal Would Allow Millions of Consumers to Buy Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids in Stores or Online

October 25, 2021

FDA to Allow Buying Hearing Aides over the Counter- But Free Hearing Benefits on Chopping Block in Care  Infrastructure Bill

 

A long-awaited Food and Drug Administration proposal would allow millions of consumers to buy over-the-counter hearing aids in stores or online without a prescription or medical exam.

More than four years after Congress ordered the agency to allow over-the-counter hearing aids, it took the first step Tuesday to broaden access to more accessible and affordable devices for millions of patients with mild to moderate hearing loss. The agency’s proposal would create a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids and supersede state-level regulations that require patients to go through physicians or audiologists to get prescriptions and fittings for them.

Infrastructure Trapped in Party Line Clash

President Biden’s Care Infrastruce bill is now trapped in a party-line clash where hearing benefits under Medicare will be ditched as the GOP is pulling away from the centrists that voted for it. Nineteen votes for the bill came from Republicans 2 months ago, as the Republican party is opposed to the Care infrastructure Bill 

Progressives Hold The Line for Care Infrastructures  for Seniors, Women Families

House Democratic Progressives held the line in a weeklong standoff with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who reversed course and canceled plans to vote on the infrastructure bill with the support of President Joe Biden. He told House Democrats the votes weren’t there to pass that bill without the larger social policy bill.

Biden Says Care Infrastructure Price Tag Must Come Down

President Biden told Democrats the initial $3.5 trillion price tag would have to be reduced, and that the talks ranged up to $2.3 trillion, a source familiar with the meeting said Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., floated a $1.5 trillion counteroffer that some decried as being too small.  Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., has declined to say what she’d back, frustrating her colleagues.

 

  • Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he aims to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill and Democrats’ broader investment in the social safety net and climate policy by the end of October.
  • The House delayed a vote on the Senate-passed infrastructure proposal as progressives sought an agreement on the larger piece of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
  • Democrats are negotiating a compromise between centrists and progressives on a plan to invest in child care, paid leave, health care, education, and the fight against climate change.

 

If You Are a Woman or Work In Aging Call Your Congressman

Care Infrastructure may wait long if folks in health care and older constituents do not contact their congressman and tell them to support this bill. They control the votes for the bill, and you have to let them know you will only vote for them if they do. Common Cause has this easy way to find and contact your congressman. If you believe in Medicare and seniors’ right not to have their teeth rot, not hear their grandkids or be unable to read a book- do it now.

Sign up for my new free Webinar, How to Sign Up Concierge Clients When Adult Child Calls in Pain

 

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Life Care, Aging Life Care Assocaition, aging life care manager, Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanfers, Biden Infrastructure Bill Passing, Biden's Caregiver Bill, Biden's Caregiver Bill Trouble, Biden's Caregiver Infastucure Paln, Biden's VA Infrastructure Bill, Black Entrepreneur, Black Entrepreneur RB, Black Entrepreneur RN, Black Geriatric Care Manager, Black RN, Black Travel RN, Blog, Care Infastructure, Care Infrastructure, Care Infrastructure cut out, caregiver, caregiver infrastructure, Caregiver Infrastructure bill, Caregiver living wage, Caregiver low salary, End of Life, Families, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, hearing Medicare coverage, Infrastructure Bill, Joe Manchin, Medicaid caregiver, Medicaid Caregivers, Medicare, Medicare Expansion, Medicare For All, nurse advocate, nurse care manager Tagged With: aging life or geriatric care management, ALCA, Biden's Infrastructure Bill, Biden's infrastructure- Caregiver Bill, Blocked Care Infrastructure bill, Call Your Congressman, Care Economy, Care infrastructure, care management, care provider stress, Congress&Infrastructure Bill, geriatric care infrastructure, infrastructure Medicare jobs, Nancy Pelosi

Why There So few Caregivers to Recruit in Health Care ??????

October 20, 2021

Where did the Caregiver all over the Nation Go?

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and 13.7 million workers in roles comparable to direct care lost

their jobs in early 2020, they did not turn to direct care jobs, a recent study found. 

Of the 9.1 million who have now found a new job, “an immeasurably small number of workers” entered the direct care workforce, despite high demand for staff, a study by consulting firm PHI and the Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care at the University of California San Francisco found.

Women, the main caregiver are leaving the workforce in record numbers, and it’s not just a result of the pandemic. 

The pandemic was the catalyst for millions of women leaving their jobs, but not the root cause. Since 2009, the number of women in the workforce has been decreasing because we haven’t made investments in child care and paid leave. Now the gap between men and women in the workforce is widening, while in most other countries the gap is shrinking. That’s leaving our whole economy vulnerable.  

Right now, women’s workforce participation is at 55.9%. The last time it was that low was 1987) 

Workforce for Women Caregivers and all Working women with Children Became Nightmare in Pandemic

The pandemic opened many eyes to the realities of child care in America when schools went virtual and many day-care centers closed. Covid-19 forced millions of working parents, especially women, to leave the workforce to care for their children. Following up on a campaign pledge to “make high-quality child care affordable,” President Joe Biden has asked Congress for hundreds of billions of dollars for early childhood care and education.

 

 

If You Are a Woman or Work In Aging Call Your Congressman

Care Infrastructure may be dead if folks in health care and older constituents do not contact their congressman and tell them to support this bill. They control the votes for the bill and you have to let them know you will only vote for them if they do. Common Cause has this easy way to find and contact your congressman  If you believe in Medicare and senior’s right  to not have their teeth rot, not hear their grandkids or be unable to read a book- please do it now

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog, care economy, Care Infastructure, caregiver childcare problem, caregiver loss to home care, Caregiver low salary, caregiver mental health, caregiver pain, caregiver recruitment, Caregivers collapsing, Caregivers contracting COVId, caregivers leaving workforce, Pandemic & childcare Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, aging parent care, Biden Infrastructure Plan for Rural areas, Biden's Home Care Plan, Biden's infrastructure- Caregiver Bill, Black, black american geriatric care managers, black american social workers, Black caregivers, Black geriatric care managers, Black start-up geriatric care management, Black travel nurses, Call Your Congressman, Care Economy, Care infastructure, Care Infastructure Frozen, care manager, case manager, free child care, free day care for working mothers, heath care workers leave worksforce, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Pandemic's effect on work force, Woman leaving workforce, women leaving workforce

Is Biden’s Caregiver Bill Really Infrastructure?

May 11, 2021

House Republicans Denounce Biden Caregiver Infrastructure Plan -Say It Is Not Infrastructure.

House Democrats defended President Joe Biden’s inclusion in his “American Jobs Plan” of $400 billion in support for caregiving, after Republicans criticized the package as stretching the definition of infrastructure and called on the White House to scale it back.

WHY CALL It INFRASTRUCTURE

The word “infrastructure” means something solid, essential, distributed and in the public interest. But as we have all learned in the pandemic year, care infrastructure is just that: UNPAID OR LOWGunnDadJacket.jpg PAID Caregivers are “rocks” and the solid foundation upon which the economy works. Without it, our families, our paychecks, our labor force participation, our workplaces all decline and we all suffer and collectively fall behind.

Like sagging bridges , unpaid women caregivers hold up the care infractstruce. In 2017, AARP found that about 41 million family caregivers in America perform roughly $470 billion worth of unpaid labor a year. Since then, the number of caregivers has increased to 53 million, meaning that more than one out of five Americans are unpaid  caregivers, according to AARP’s latest report.

 

The Care Infrastructure Collapsing

From February 2020 to January 2021  more than 2.3 million left their jobs, and that puts women’s labor force participation rate at 57%, the lowest it’s been since 1988. This was due to a lack ofchannel_caregiver_burnout.jpg childcare and closing of schools due to COVID  when 39% of   women family caregivers leave their job to have more time to care for a loved one.

Caregiving  for an elder reduces paid work hours for middle aged women by about 41 percent. In total, the cost impact of caregiving on the individual female caregiver in terms of lost wages and Social Security benefits equals $324,044. 34% leave because their work does not provide flexible hours. 

 

 

HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST GOVERNMENT IF FREE CAREGIVERS QUIT

Let’s put that free caregiving  into context.At $470 billion in 2013, the value of unpaid caregiving exceeded the value of paid home care and total Medicaid spending in the same year, and nearly matched the value of the sales of the world’s largest company, Wall-Mart ($477 billion). [AARP Public Policy Institute. (2015). Valuing the Invaluable: 2015 Update.]

So in 2013 the US Government would have to come up with $477 billion to replace free caregiving.

Let’s put that  free caregiving  into 2017 context.  AARP notes unpaid caregivers’ economic impact was more than  all out-of-pocket spending on U.S. health care in 2017($470 billion)and the total combined value added to the U.S. economy by the agriculture/forestry and mining sectors ($438 billion) that year.

So caregiving was not free, the US would have to come up with $477 billion in 2017 to replace it.

 

WHAT IF UNPAID CAREGIVERS  Totally COLLAPSED

If all these unpaid family caregivers stopped caring the national caregiving system would collapse, like dangerous American bridges .Then the US government would have to come up with $470 Billion to replace free caregivers or put all  elderly in nursing homes , which are havens for disease spread , which we know from the pandemic making them a holocaust of death. Congregate nursing homes and have become a broken national system since COVID.

So Biden has brilliantly found a way to avoid the $470,00 billion bill and instead create jobs that will keep elders at home cared for  through home health care paid through Medicare.

What Will Biden’s Investment  Create- in Jobs and the Economy

Sixty-five percent of the jobs — approximately 1.5 million jobs —resulting from Biden’s investment would be in child care, residential care, and home health care. An additional 225,000 jobs can be created or supported in sectors that support care work, and over 500,000 jobs would be supported in other sectors as direct care workers spend their wages on goods and services. 

Biden’s Plan of investing $77.5 billion per year would support over two million new jobs, at an average cost of $34,496 per supported job. Over 10 years, this translates to 22.5 million new jobs. Annually, a $77.5 billion investment in new jobs translates into $220 billion in new economic activity. 

So find your local representative and tell them to support Biden’s bill if you care about aging or caregivers or women or  shoring up the frayed- fraught care infrastructure.I have done a series of blogs on the bill . Check them out now 

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Biden's Caregiver Infastucure Paln, Blog, care economy, caregiver, caregiver infrastructure, Caregiver Infrastructure bill, Caregiver living wage, Caregiver low salary, caregiver mental health, CAREGIVER RESOUCES, Caregivers collapsing, Covid 19, Covid 19 Webinar, COVID Webinar, Families, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, geriatric social worker, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Unpaid caregivers, unpaid family caregivers Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, aging parent care, aging parent crisis, Biden's infrastructure- Caregiver Bill, Care Economy, Care infrastructure, care manager, caregiver burden, caregiver burnout, caregiver low wage salary, caregiver stress, case manager, creating caregiver jobs, geriatric care manager, infrastructure Medicare jobs, Medicare non coverage LTC, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Unpaid caregivers, unpaid family caregivers

Contact

Use the form on the
Contact page to email Cathy.

Email

Latest trending news

Connect with Cathy

Get Cathy’s “10 Critical Success Steps to a Profitable Aging Life or GCM Business”

  • Home
  • GCM Manual New 5th Edition
  • Books »
  • Services »
  • About
  • Recommendations
  • Blog »
  • Contact

Copyright © 2012–2022 CressGCMConsult & Cathy Cress - Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management | Developed by wpcustomify

Powered byHow to get udemy courses for free