A Scan Foundation poll (pdf) released on July 8 indicates that nearly 80 percent of Americans would be more likely to support a health reform proposal if it included measures to improve long-term care services for seniors.

The SCAN Foundation commissioned Lake Research Partners to conduct the National Omnibus Survey on Long-Term Care, which comprises the responses of more than 1,000 random adults who were surveyed in late June.

In addition to indicating that nearly 8 in 10 Americans want to see long-term care reform included in any national health reform plan, the report found the following:

• 92 percent of Americans say it’s important to improve coverage that allows people to receive home-based care instead of going into nursing homes
• 79 percent of Americans are concerned about their own or a family member’s ability to afford long-term care in the future
• 78 percent say they would benefit personally from health care reform that improves coverage for home and community-based long-term care services

The poll was released only a day after President Barack Obama formally endorsed including long-term care in his national health reform agenda by expressing support for the CLASS Act (see “Obama supports new long-term care benefit,” AP, July 8).

Sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy, and included as part of the national health reform bill being created by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which Kennedy chairs, this legislation would create a voluntary national insurance program that would provide people with a modest daily payment to spend on nursing home services or in-home care.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius signaled Obama’s endorsement of the CLASS act in a letter she wrote to Kennedy, in which she said Obama “believes it is appropriate to include the CLASS Act as part of health reform because enactment of this important legislation would expand resources available to individuals and families to purchase long-term services and supports to enable them to remain in their own homes in the community” (“Obama Backs Helping Hand for Long-Term Care,” NPR, July 7).