News 590 Long Term Care Insurance Bill Proposed Sen Santorum

A bill being proposed by Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum seeks to provide assistance for those who can not afford long-term care insurance by setting up tax-free savings accounts similar to health savings accounts. Participants could put up to $5,000 per year into their accounts to be used for nursing home or home-health care for themselves or their family members. Should the account holder die before using up their funds, the remaining amount would be put into a similar account for the designated beneficiary. The bill also seeks to start programs that combine aspects for long-term care insurance and annuities. Sen. Santorum hopes his bill will encourage seniors to resist altering their assets to appear to be poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, the government-sponsored healthcare program for low-income Americans. He claims that his proposed program offers greater flexibility in healthcare options than Medicaid.

Read more: Sen. Santorum Introduces Bill To Help Individuals Save For Long-Term Care Insurance (Medical News Today) Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) on Tuesday introduced a bill (S 2281) that would establish tax incentives to help U.S. residents save funds for long-term care insurance, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. The legislation would establish tax-free, "long-term care accounts" similar to health savings accounts for individuals who might have problems with access to long-term care insurance because