HEARING - U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging

110
adds to the complexity of Medicare, but simplifies the overall
task consumers face since they no longer would need to shop for
one (or multiple) private policy(ies).
(2) Long-Term Care Coverage: As summarized in section I
(B) above, the Bowen Report's recommendations with regard to
long-term care stress public education and subsidization of
private insurance. The Report's analysis should have considered
two additional options: (a) a voluntary Medicare Part C to
cover long-term care needs, financed in part by a premium paid
by participants and in part by cost-sharing and (b) expanding
Medicare to cover long-term care coverage for all participants.
(a) Voluntary Medicare Part C. Karen Davis and Diane
Rowland outline a proposal for a voluntary long-term care
coverage of the elderly in their book Medicare Policy: New
Directions for Health and Long-term Care [The Johns Hopkins
University Press, Baltimore, 1986, p. 110 -119.] Congressman
Pepper introduced H.R. 4287 in the 99th Congress, "to amend
title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for an
optional part C program to furnish comprehensive, catastrophic,
long-term, and preventive benefits through prepaid plans." Key
advantages of a government-sponsored program include: (1) low
administrative and marketing costs; (2) greater value'for money
for consumers because loss ratios will be much higher than
equivalent private policies; (3) reduced consumer search costs
and confusion that results from inadequate information about the