The SCAN Foundation

With a reverse mortgage, an older person taps the value of the equity his or her home, often using the money to pay for long-term services and supports. After the senior dies, the house is often sold to repay the money furnished by the bank or another lender. There is concern that the fees paid by the homeowner are sometimes excessive, and the government could be forced to take responsibility for the mortgage if the transaction goes sour. “So it’s a double-edged problem,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO,) who presided at a June 29, 2009 hearing in University City, MO, by the Senate Special Aging Committee.

Alzheimer’s disease is a debilitating and ultimately fatal condition that is costly in financial, physical and emotional terms for families. This in turn requires large government expenditures as a result of high demands for long-term services and supports. A special Alzheimer’s disease study group reported to Congress at a March 25, 2009 hearing of the Senate Aging Committee. Witnesses included Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives and Bob Kerrey, former senator and president of The New School for Social Research. Both are co-chairs of the Alzheimer’s Study Group. Speakers advocated for increased funding of treatment and prevention for the disease. The National Institute on Aging further explains the scope of the disease in a 2007 report, “One in Seven Americans Age 71 and Older Has Some Type of Dementia, NIH-Funded Study Estimates."

“Aging in place” is the concept of being able to live in one’s own home as long as health and desire make it possible, instead of moving to an assisted living facility or a nursing home. You must have support – emotional and sometimes physical and financial – from family caregivers to do this. Families will go to great lengths to keep their loved ones at home by delivering long-term services and supports from the house for as long as possible.

The federal government has a five-star rating system, indicating which nursing homes have the fewest serious health and safety violations when state inspectors check them. Many state attorneys general said the system should be suspended unless there are uniform national standards, which would provide more consistency than the current system of separate inspection reports by each state. However, a leading organization advocating on behalf of caregivers and nursing home residents wants to keep the current ratings.