Last week, Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and John Boozman (R-AR) introduced S. 2762, the Supporting Our Seniors Act, to establish a National Advisory Commission on long-term care services for seniors and individuals in need of support for activities of daily living. Argentum supports this bill and appreciates the senators for their inclusion of a representative from senior housing on the commission, which Argentum requested.
The commission would assess and provide annual reporting to Congress on service delivery, financing, workforce adequacy, and other issues related to long-term care in order to help increase seniors’ and individuals with disabilities access to affordable care services. The commission would be comprised of 12 members who have experience in palliative care, hospice care, home and community-based services delivery, labor and workforce development, aging and geriatrics, disability advocates, long-term care insurance, patient and caregiver advocates, and senior housing. The commission is tasked with making policy recommendations to Congress, including long-term care coverage for the non-Medicaid eligible population, aging-in-place, financing options for low- and middle-income individuals, affordability, reducing hospitalizations, access to comprehensive care, and support for adult children caring for parents, workforce stability and preparedness.
Argentum supports the reintroduction of the Supporting Our Seniors Act and for adopting our recommendation to include a representative from senior housing on the commission. The addition of representatives from senior housing is especially important, as we face an existing shortage of nearly 900,000 housing units by the end of this decade and a projected developmental cost of more than $1 trillion by 2050.