National Academy of Social Insurance Announces Expert Study Panel on Long-Term Care

For Immediate Release: August 4, 2003
Contact:  Jill Braunstein 202/452-8097 (office)
jillbraun@nasi.org (e-mail)

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The National Academy of Social Insurance announced the formation of a study panel on long-term care issues, co-chaired by Sheila Burke and Judy Feder. The expert panel was formed under a two-year policy research project, “Designing a Long-Term Care System for the Future,” with primary support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Co-chair Sheila Burke said, “Health policy experts and others have long realized that the current long-term care system does not meet the needs of many elderly and disabled people. Change is needed to meet the demands of the future – especially the long-term care needs of the baby boom generation.” The NASI study panel will:

• Create a vision for long-term care in the future by examining how lessons from public policy experiences in the past can be applied to long-term care policy;

• Develop criteria to evaluate the proper roles of social insurance, means-tested programs, private insurance, and individual responsibility in financing long-term care; and

• Stimulate interest in developing a more rational financing method for long-term care by disseminating the results of the study panel’s work to policy makers.

According to panel co-chair Judy Feder, “This NASI study panel will demonstrate that long-term care is a policy issue deserving of political attention.”

In addition to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, other project funders include: the TIAA-CREF Institute, Service Employees International Union, and GE Financial Assurance.

Kathleen King, Director of Health Policy Studies at NASI, will be staff director on the project.

STUDY PANEL MEMBERS:

Sheila Burke, Co-Chair
Undersecretary for American Museums, Smithsonian Institution

Judy Feder, Co-Chair
Dean of Public Policy, Georgetown Public Policy Institute, Georgetown University

William Apgar
Lecturer in Public Policy, Senior Scholar, The Kennedy School of Government, Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University

Dwight Bartlett
Principal, Bartlett Consulting Services, Inc

Christine Bishop
Professor, Schneider Institute for Health Policy, The Heller School, Brandeis University

Henry Claypool
Co-Founder, Advancing Independence: Modernizing Medicare and Medicaid, HalfthePlanet Foundation

Penny Feldman
Director, Center for Home Care Policy and Research Visiting Nurse Service of New York

Len Fishman
President and CEO, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged

Iris Freeman
Director of Public Policy, Twin Cities, Minnesota-Dakotas Chapter, Alzheimer’s Association

David Keiffer
Director of the Nursing Home Program, Service Employees International Union

Kimberly Morgan
Professor of Political Science, George Washington University

Lindy Paull
Co-managing Partner, Washington National Tax Services
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Marta Sotomayor
President and CEO, National Hispanic Council on Aging

Deborah Stone
Research Professor of Government and Public Policy, Rockefeller Center, Dartmouth College

Shelly White-Means
Professor, Center for Research on Women and Department of Economics, University of Memphis

The National Academy of Social Insurance is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization made up of the nation’s leading experts on social insurance. Its mission is to promote understanding and informed policymaking on social insurance and related programs through research, public education, training, and the open exchange of ideas. For more information on the National Academy of Social Insurance visit www.nasi.org or call (202) 452-8097.