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Coalition to Protect Senior Care Praises Senate Finance Committee's Inclusion of Long-term Care in Roundtable Discussion on Access to Health Care Coverage

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 May 2009, 14:36 CDT

JOPLIN, Mo., May 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Coalition to Protect Senior Care (CPSC) - a national coalition of frontline clinician and caregiver groups providing quality skilled nursing care - applauded the Senate Finance Committee's inclusion of long-term care in today's roundtable discussion on Increasing Access to Health Care Coverage, the second topic in a series of three roundtable discussions on comprehensive health care reform.

"The Coalition to Protect Senior Care applauds Chairman Baucus, Ranking Member Grassley and the Committee for calling attention to the need for long-term care reform as part of this critical discussion on improving access to health care coverage," said Lisa Cantrell, co-founder of the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA) and CPSC. "America's front-line caregivers, patients and providers are working very hard together to bring about culture change in facilities as part of a larger quality improving process, and we appreciate this same spirit of collaboration in today's discussion on overall health care reform."

The roundtable, led by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), discussed potential policies to expand health care coverage for all Americans, including proposals to strengthen the health care safety net, expand public health care programs, increase access to private health coverage by creating premium subsidies for low income Americans and reforming the individual and small group health insurance markets, create tax credits for small businesses to afford insurance, make it easier to shop and find affordable coverage options and focus on the prevention of disease and promotion of healthy lifestyles. It will be followed by a May 14 roundtable on financing comprehensive health care reform.

"As greater numbers of Americans rely upon quality skilled nursing care services, we encourage lawmakers to keep long-term care delivery issues a priority in upcoming reform discussions," said Cantrell. "We as front-line caregivers stand ready to work with the Committee members, Congress and the Administration on stimulating job growth in this vital aspect of health care delivery and ensuring the continued provision of quality long-term care for today's and future generations."

About the Coalition to Protect Senior Care

The Coalition to Protect Senior Care consists of the American Association for Long-term Care Nursing (AALTCN); the American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA); the American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators (AANAC); the National Rural Health Association (NRHA); the American Association of Nurse Executives (AANEX); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA); the American Society of Health Care Administration Executives (ASHCAE); the American Health Care Association (AHCA); the American Health Quality Association (AHQA); the National Association for the Support of Long-term Care (NASL); the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA); the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care; the Coalition of Women in Long-term Care (COWL); and the Nurse Executive Council.

SOURCE Coalition to Protect Senior Care

Source: PR Newswire

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