Tax credit proposed for long-term health care

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton proposed a four-point national plan today for long-term health care.

The proposal would overhaul the current system and could provide much needed financial relief to Nevada senior citizens.

Headlining Clinton's proposal is a $1,000 tax credit that compensates people or their family caregivers for costs associated with long-term health care.

The plan also calls for a national support program for caregivers, a national educational campaign to teach people how to evaluate their best long-term care options and a plan to have the federal government serve as a model employer by offering affordable long-term health insurance to its employees.

Clinton said the United States must make sure it does not shift the full financial burden of a parent's long-term care expenses on children.

"We must use this time now to do everything in our power, to make sure that we do not impose that intolerable burden on our children," Clinton said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who serves on the Senate Special Committee on Aging, joined Clinton at the White House this morning to unveil the plan and said this is the first of many steps that need to be taken to ensure quality health care for senior citizens.

"I think this is really keeping up with what I believe is needed," Reid said.

Reid's Senate Aging Committee held hearings last year in Las Vegas and Reno where Silver State seniors voiced their opinions and concerns about the current system of long-term health care. In Las Vegas alone, about 200 people attended the hearings.

Reid said this legislation is particularly important to Nevada because the Silver State's has the fastest-growing population of senior citizens in the nation.

In 1996, 209,000 people over the age of 65 called Nevada home. This number is expected to grow to 333,000 by the year 2020. Seniors over the age of 85 in 1993 numbered at about 10,000, and this figure is expected to increase to 34,000 by 2020.

Nationwide, the White House estimates that more than 5 million Americans now require long-term care, and about two-thirds of them are seniors. And the number of Americans over the age of 65 is expected to double from the current 34.3 million to 69.4 million by 2030.

"We need to pass the legislation," Reid said.

The plan is expected to cost $6.2 billion over the next five years and will be a main component of the budget Clinton will send to Congress next month. Vice President Al Gore, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000, will tout the proposal at scheduled events across the country.

The proposal's most noticeable component that people could realize immediately is the $1,000 tax credit. Upwards of 2 million people across the country could benefit from this tax credit, the White House estimates. The tax credit is expected to cost $5.5 billion.

"This tax credit doesn't give them everything they deserve, but it does give them something," Reid said.

Reid said he was not sure whether Republicans would embrace the president's plan, but he added that Congress needs to work together in a bipartisan manner to develop a national health plan.

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