The Affordable Care Act, deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court last week, certainly has sparked an ongoing debate that does not show any signs of subsiding. Many Americans are wondering what the health care law will mean for them and how it is likely to impact their finances.
A Forbes column this week outlines three important ways the law will directly impact older Americans—in a good way. The benefits to seniors are often overlooked, the column writes.
Maybe people who oppose the Supreme Court decision don’t want to look as if they are against elders so they avoid discussing a number of the real benefits to seniors that are part of the bill.
Who am I talking about that will benefit? It could be your own aging parents. The ACA requires many broad changes that will be directly and immediately helpful to our elders.
Here are just three of the many things the National Senior Citizens’ Law Center reports about what is in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the effect on seniors. I add my own comments.1. The Elder Justice Act
If we want to stop seeing so many horrifying stories of elder abuse, both physical and financial, we need a national coordination of effort to fight elder abuse. Now, it’s here, in the ACA. The Act will establish grants to create centers for developing forensic expertise to collect evidence relating to elder abuse, neglect or exploitation. It will enhance training of staff in nursing homes. It will strengthen the enforcement ability of Federal and State entities to prosecute elder abuse cases, among other things. This Act has a far reaching effect on combating elder abuse, a $2.9B a year problem in the U.S….…The poorest and sickest in our society have been addressed in these parts of the ACA. Yet all the attention in every debate or report I see or hear about the ACA is on the individual mandate, the effect on insurance companies, the IRS, the tax question and penalties for not buying insurance, etc. How about our aging parents?? You notice that no one is debating the benefits to them.
Read the full article at Forbes.com.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
