Private Sector Long-Term Care Insurance Urged

Reagan Administration officials are planning to encourage the development of private insurance for nursing home care, which could produce substantial savings for the government in Medicaid and Medicare costs, it was reported Sunday.

The New York Times reported on a study commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services. Medicaid costs for those 67- to 69-years-old could be cut by more than 20% over a 35-year period, the study said.

A separate report from the department’s National Center for Health Services Research cited “a clear need” for private insurance to protect against the cost of nursing home care, the newspaper said.

Medicaid, the medical aid program for the poor, and Medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly, paid about half of the $29 billion that the nation spent on nursing home care in 1983, it said.