Legislature(2001 - 2002)
05/05/2001 01:35 PM House STA
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE
May 5, 2001
1:35 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative John Coghill, Chair
Representative Jeannette James
Representative Hugh Fate
Representative Gary Stevens
Representative Peggy Wilson
Representative Harry Crawford
Representative Joe Hayes
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CS FOR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 28(HES)
Urging dissemination of information about the costs of long-term
care services and the availability of long-term care insurance
for individuals.
- MOVED CSSJR 28(HES) OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: SJR 28
SHORT TITLE:LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE
SPONSOR(S): SENATOR(S) WILKEN
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
04/11/01 1069 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
04/11/01 1069 (S) HES, L&C
04/27/01 (S) HES AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
04/27/01 (S) Moved CS(HES) Out of
Committee
04/27/01 (S) MINUTE(HES)
04/28/01 1328 (S) HES RPT CS 3DP SAME TITLE
04/28/01 1328 (S) DP: GREEN, WILKEN, DAVIS
04/28/01 1328 (S) FN1: ZERO(S.HES)
05/01/01 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 211
05/01/01 (S) Moved Out of Committee
05/01/01 (S) MINUTE(L&C)
05/02/01 1432 (S) L&C RPT CS(HES) 4DP
05/02/01 1432 (S) DP: PHILLIPS, AUSTERMAN,
DAVIS,
05/02/01 1432 (S) TORGERSON
05/02/01 1432 (S) FN1: ZERO(S.HES)
05/04/01 1493 (S) RULES TO CALENDAR 5/4/01
05/04/01 1501 (S) READ THE SECOND TIME
05/04/01 1501 (S) HES CS ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT
05/04/01 1501 (S) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
UNAN CONSENT
05/04/01 1501 (S) READ THE THIRD TIME CSSJR
28(HES)
05/04/01 1502 (S) PASSED Y20 N-
05/04/01 1514 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H)
05/04/01 1514 (S) VERSION: CSSJR 28(HES)
05/04/01 (S) RLS AT 1:00 PM FAHRENKAMP 203
05/04/01 (S) -- Time Change --
05/04/01 (S) MINUTE(RLS)
05/05/01 1552 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
05/05/01 1552 (H) STA
05/05/01 (H) STA AT 1:30 PM CAPITOL 102
WITNESS REGISTER
SENATOR GARY WILKEN
Alaska State Legislature
Capitol Building, Room 514
Juneau, Alaska 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of SJR 28.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 01-53, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIR JOHN COGHILL called the House State Affairs Standing
Committee meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. Representatives
Coghill, Wilson, Crawford, and Hayes were present at the call to
order. Representatives James, Fate, and Stevens arrived as the
meeting was in progress.
SJR 28 - LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE
Number 0040
CHAIR COGHILL announced that the committee would hear CS FOR
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 28(HES), Urging dissemination of
information about the costs of long-term care services and the
availability of long-term care insurance for individuals.
Number 0075
SENATOR GARY WILKEN, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor,
explained that the Long-Term Care (LTC) Task Force created by
the legislature recommends that information about LTC be
disseminated to the public. Two of the things that the LTC Task
Force learned during its public hearing process is that "if your
fortunate to live long enough to ... need long-term care," it's
very, very expensive; and that the time to "get people" is when
they're planning their lives - when they're getting their
medical insurance in order - so that when they do reach the age
when they need help, they don't have to spend their savings or
their family's savings. He noted that the good news today is
that over the last three years, private industry has picked up
on the fact that this is a marketable product. He then
recounted how, "When we had our Task Force, a lot of people
looked to the state and said, 'Well why doesn't the state just
pay for this out of perhaps a permanent fund deduction,' or,
'we'll just have what amounts to socialized long-term care in
Alaska,' and people were really serious about that."
SENATOR WILKEN explained that SJR 28 simply says to the state,
to municipalities, to Congress, and to the President to spread
the word about long-term care. He opined that it is important
to keep this issue in front of every legislature, every year,
because by the year 2020, one out of eight Alaskans will be 80
years old or older. He noted that the issue is so important
that he did a campaign commercial on it in order to get people
to start thinking about this issue; people need to make plans
early in their lives for what will happen when they get older.
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON commented that Senator Wilken is "right on
here," and that SJR 28 is very appropriate. In her town, she
noted, the cost of LTC is over $10,000 per month, and added that
the issue of LTC and its cost can be overwhelming when people
are faced with making choices without having any prior plans.
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES remarked that she really appreciates the
work that Senator Wilken has done with regard to the issue of
LTC. Long-term care is an up-and-coming issue that has to be
dealt with, she opined; not only the aspect of having insurance
available that covers LTC, but also the aspect of having
facilities available for people to receive LTC. She added that
she is a supporter of assisted living homes, which provide very
good care and which should be considered further.
Number 0477
REPRESENTATIVE HAYES mentioned that he might have a conflict of
interest because the company he works for sells long-term-care
insurance.
CHAIR COGHILL said that Representative Hayes's potential
conflict is "duly noted but objected to"; thus Representative
Hayes would be required to vote if called upon to do so.
REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS said that he is really glad to see SJR
28; it is essential that people become aware of this topic. He
then mentioned that sometimes it appears that the message to
people is that they should transfer their wealth to their
families so that the state can pick up the cost of LTC.
SENATOR WILKEN noted that Representative Stevens has a point;
people think, erroneously, that social security is going to take
care of them when they get old, and that everything is going to
be fine. Long-term care is so expensive, however, that many
people have to spend their assets down to the limit allowed and
then live off the state. He opined that SJR will make people
aware that they need to start planning early so that they will
not have to give away all their assets when they get older.
REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD said that he supports the concept of SJR
28 but noted that in his industry, possible only 25 percent of
the people even have healthcare coverage for their families.
Coverage is so expensive that people have to decide between
paying the rent or paying for healthcare coverage; thus these
people hope and bet on staying healthy. He surmised that LTC
coverage would have even less priority than healthcare coverage.
He asked, "How do we get around to getting people [who] ... are
in that sort of predicament to look ahead to long-term-care
facilities and insurance?"
SENATOR WILKEN said that he sees it as two tracks:
We need to continue to push to get people to be able
to afford major medical [coverage] - we can barely go
without it in our world today; at the same time, on
another track, we [need to] encourage those that have
the ability - those that perhaps have that part of
their lives taken care of - to avail themselves of
long-term care [coverage]. But we need to keep
pushing on both fronts to keep them both moving ahead.
CHAIR COGHILL said that he agrees with Senator Wilken. He noted
that the last resolve in SJR 28 requests that Congress address
to what extent tax rules may discriminate against consumers of
long-term care insurance policies.
SENATOR WILKEN noted that Congress currently has before it the
"Long-term Care and Retirement Security Act of 2001," which will
address the topic of how to get tax relief for long-term-care
planning.
Number 0927
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES moved to report CSSJR 28(HES) out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
zero fiscal note. There being no objection, CSSJR 28(HES) was
reported from the House State Affairs Standing Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
Number 0956
There being no further business before the committee, the House
State Affairs Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 1:49
p.m.
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