Long-Term Care Package Moves to Clinton’s Desk

Just before leaving for its August recess, Congress approved legislation to provide long-term care insurance to federal employees, military personnel and retirees.

The House and Senate approved the measure Thursday night after making last-minute changes and sent the legislation to President Clinton. Clinton is expected to sign the bill, which would provide an important new benefit to government workers, retirees and their families.

The legislation, eagerly awaited by thousands of federal employees and retirees, has been pushed for two years by a bipartisan coalition that included all the members of the Washington-area delegation.

“This is a great day for federal employees and retirees,” House Government Reform civil service subcommittee Chairman Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.) said. “Someday soon, every American will have a chance to buy affordable long-term care.”

“I thank everyone who was part of making long-term care legislation a reality. And thank you for making the first major addition to the federal benefits package in many years,” said Janice R. Lachance, the president’s civil service advisor and head of the Office of Personnel Management.

Under the legislation, called the Long-Term Care Security Act, OPM will start negotiations with insurance companies to determine what options will be offered to employees and retirees. Officials hope to get the program started in 2002.

The Office of Personnel Management expects the program to offer long-term care insurance at group rates 15% to 20% below market. The full premiums would be paid by participants.

Research by the trade group American Council of Life Insurers shows the cost of most long-term care services--nursing home care, assisted-living care, adult day care and home care--will quadruple over the next three decades.

At least 13 million people will be eligible to participate, officials said, since the legislation extends long-term coverage to spouses, parents and in-laws of employees and retirees.

The National Assn. of Retired Federal Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union and large insurance companies had lobbied Congress for the legislation.

The bill encountered some snags en route to passage. Congress added employees and retirees of the Tennessee Valley Authority after discovering they had been inadvertently excluded. And two minor tax-related provisions were dropped after a complaint from the House Ways and Means Committee.