Hawai'i Long Term Care Commission invites public testimony at hearing

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
David Nixon, (808) 341-2820
Posted: Mar 8, 2011

The public is invited to comment on a draft interim Phase I report of the Hawai‘i Long Term Care Commission, which is administered by the Social Sciences Public Policy Center at UH Mānoa. The report will be the focus of a public hearing before legislators from 3-5 p.m. on Thursday, March 10, at the State Capitol Auditorium.
 
The Commission’s goal in Phase I was to conduct research about Hawai‘i’s long-term care system, and to identify problems with current long-term care capacity, programs and services to the 2011 Legislature. Among its initial findings, the Commission has learned that:
  • The burdens and benefits of long-term care touch both young and old, with more than 1 in 10 people in Hawaii either experiencing a disability or providing care for someone who does.
  • A large majority of Hawai‘i’s people lack sufficient funds or have only a limited ability to pay for nursing-home or at-home care, yet the number of the state’s disabled and those who provide caregiving services to them will rise as Hawai‘i’s population ages.
  • The most promising source of long-term care financing is public and/or private long-term care insurance.
  • The state’s management of long-term care is fragmented.
Stuart Ho, the state president of AARP Hawai‘i, serves as Commission chairman.
 
For more information, contact Principal Investigator David Nixon at (808) 341-2820 or dnixon@hawaii.edu. See the Commission’s website at www.publicpolicycenter.hawaii.edu/LTCC.html).
 
The UH Mānoa Social Sciences Public Policy Center administers the Hawaii Long Term Care Commission. Act 224 (SLH 2008, as amended by Act 24 SLH 2010) created the Commission, and charged it to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the long-term care system in Hawai‘i.
Phase II of the Commission’s work will be conducted in 2011, and will address public and private financing options, and develop a five-year comprehensive long term care plan that to “promote a full continuum of institutional and community-based services, including benchmarks to evaluate accomplishments for each year.” The Commission’s recommendations will be presented to the 2012 Legislature.