Although 2 million people in the U.S. live in long-term care facilities, places like nursing homes have long been plagued with issues — and, as John Oliver explains during his latest Last Week Tonight deep dive, the coronavirus pandemic has only made these things worse.
"The truth is, COVID just exposed what we've basically known for years," Oliver says in the clip above. "That the elderly and disabled are treated in far too many of these facilities with at best indifference, and at worse abuse and neglect."
Oliver goes on to cite grim examples of the issues found in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, including neglect due to understaffing, high costs that aren't fully covered by health care programs, and nursing homes allegedly kicking out elderly residents to make room for patients who can pay more.
"What we need is reform at a national level," concludes Oliver. "And there are actually some promising developments here. A discussion draft of a bill was recently introduced that would make home- and community-based care an entitlement under Medicaid. And Biden's proposed infrastructure plan actually calls for $400 billion to be spent on those exact services — and that would be a really big deal."
Topics John Oliver
