So a new stat comes to Changing Aging today … and Changing Aging asks what’s wrong with this picture?

According to new analysis by the American Health Care Association, Medicaid is underfunding state long-term care efforts by $4.2 billion this year. ACHA president Bruce Yarwood and other health care advocates have called on Congress to include an increase to state Medicaid as part of any stimulus package. At the same time Yarwood also noted that Medicare’s continued cross-subsidization of Medicaid could have serious negative repercussions on the long-term care profession. According to the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee, the combined average margin on payments to nursing homes by the two programs was negative 1.8%.

Why This Picture Needs A Different Frame

On first glance there is nothing wrong with this picture. Bruce Yarwood is absolutely right. We have a horrible underfunding of long-term care in America. It’s a big, big problem.

But let’s take another look. There is no mention of a solution or that we need a new solution. So how do people read this who have no clue that our national long-term care financing system is beyond broken?: They read it as ‘spending more government dollars … huge government dollars … spending that is never-ending and will only get larger.’

We in the aging services profession need to change the frame on this issue and talk about a new way to finance aging services. Every time there is a sentence for increased government funding, every time we say there is a crisis, there should be an immediate declaration that says: This isn’t sustainable; we have to develop a new solution in how we finance long-term care. We’re all aging. This is about all of us.

We need to make this case and have others with us at the table to forge solutions … citizens (experts and non-experts) … business … education … and more. The old way of addressing these kind of problems was episodic and isolated. Used to be you’d hire a lobbyist and just cash in on one-to-one relationships and get some more funding and patch budgets. This problem is too big for that.

Effective public affairs today has a different frame – note the emphasis on public and effective. Shared agendas, collaboration and widespread public support are how things move most effectively. You simply can’t have major change until you’ve done the work to build allies and consensus. Think common good. Arisotle highlighted it years ago, but the common good isn’t a relic. For us to solve these issues, it can’t be.

The future of aging in America demands a new frame in which everyone can see themselves.