Make your Health Care Wishes Known

Long-Term Care Ombudsman Encourages Kentuckians to Make Advance Health Care Wishes Known

Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
Press Release Date: Thursday, April 10, 2008
Contact Information: Janis Stewart or Gwenda Bond,
(502) 564-6786, ext. 3326 and ext. 3325

FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 10, 2008) – Most people can’t read your mind when you’re healthy, let alone try to figure out your wishes during a major health crisis while under additional stress. Be kind to your loved ones; make those decisions in advance; and have them legally documented.

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ Long-Term Care Ombudsman (LTCO), along with other national, state and community organizations, is leading an effort to highlight the importance of advance healthcare decision-making—an effort that has culminated in the formal designation of April 16, 2008, as the inaugural National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD).

Despite the fact that the importance and benefits of advance directives have been proven repeatedly for many years, only a small minority of Americans have executed an advance directive, according to information on the NHDD website. NHDD seeks to address this issue by focusing attention on advance healthcare planning from a variety of directions simultaneously across the United States.

Any number of professionals such as healthcare providers, chaplains, attorneys, and long-term care ombudsmen can provide clear, concise, and consistent information and tools for executing written advance directives about healthcare power of attorney and/or living will in accordance with state laws.

“I encourage, Kentuckians to have thoughtful conversations about their healthcare decisions and complete reliable advance directives to make their wishes known,” said Jackie Strader, Kentucky’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman. ” An advance directive allows you to give instructions about your health care, clearly explaining what you want done or not done if the time comes when you can’t speak for yourself. ”

For more information on this initiative and advance health care directives, visit www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org or http://chfs.ky.gov/omb/ltco.htm call the LTCO at 502/564-5497.

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Governor Beshear signs bills for long term care and trama care

Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office
Governor Beshear signs four bills into law
Press Release Date: Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Contact Information: Dick Brown
502-564-2611

FRANKFORT, KY – Gov. Steve Beshear today signed into law four bills passed by the current session of the Kentucky General Assembly. The new laws include measures relating to corporation income tax and limited liability entity tax, changes relating to plastic container labeling requirements, long-term care insurance and trauma care.

HB 259, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Greer (D-Brandenburg), created the Kentucky Long-Term Care Partnership Program that encourages individuals to obtain long-term care insurance by allowing them to still qualify for Medicaid services without exhausting all of their assets and resources. This will allow these individuals to protect come of their personal assets, up to the benefits of the policy, from estate recovery.

“No longer will the elderly who have worked all their lives to have a home and some money saved be forced to lose all of those assets in order to access long-term care,” said Gov. Beshear. “This bill is a significant step in helping consumers plan their retirement with more confidence in their long-term financial viability. I want to congratulate Rep. Greer and thank him for recognizing this opportunity and pushing this legislation.”

HB 371, sponsored by Rep. Bob DeWeese (R-Louisville), provides a mechanism by which an office of trauma care will be created and charged with developing trauma prevention programs, a trauma registry, continuing education for professionals and a coordinated trauma network.

“It’s not often you can say that a specific piece of legislation has the potential to save lives. But, in this case, it’s true,” said Gov. Beshear. “Many areas of Kentucky, particularly rural areas, lack good trauma care, something that contributes to higher rates of death and permanent disability as a result of violent accidents. With the work of Rep. Bob DeWeese, we now have legislation that can address this in a meaningful way.”

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