“Growth in Medicare Advantage Spending Far Outpaces Traditional Medicare”

“Growth in Medicare Advantage Spending Far Outpaces Traditional Medicare,” by Alex Spanko, Skilled Nursing News “The growth in overall spending on nursing homes in the United States slowed for the second consecutive year in 2017, according to the latest analysis from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) — while Medicare Advantage spending skyrocketed. All payers spent $166.3 billion at nursing care facilities and continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) last year, up from $163.0 billion in 2016. That works out to spending growth of 2.0%, down from last year’s gain of 3.1%. … The rise of Medicare Advantage has
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Categories: Clippings, Industry News, and Long-Term Care.

“U.S. healthcare spending growth slows for second year in a row”

“U.S. healthcare spending growth slows for second year in a row,” Reuters “Healthcare spending growth in the United States slowed for the second year in a row in 2017, mainly due to slower spending growth for hospital care, physician and clinical services as well as retail prescription drugs, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): National health expenditure data for 2017 covering nursing facilities and home health care were just released. We’ll publish our annual LTC Bullet “So What if the Government
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Categories: Clippings, Industry News, and Long-Term Care.

“Paying for Long-Term Care: How It’s Changing”

“Paying for Long-Term Care: How It’s Changing,” by Amy Fontinelle, Investopedia “Insurance companies are trying to change that. ‘If I had to summarize a single technique being employed by all the major players, it’d be a convergence around smaller benefits,’ says Stephen D. Forman, CLTC, senior vice president of Long Term Care Associates, an insurance agency in Bellevue, Wash. Smaller policies are the way for insurers to reach the middle-market consumer, so insurers are offering policies with lower limits and more-flexible premium payment periods. Programs in the research and pilot stages include one that starts as a term life insurance
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Categories: Clippings, Industry News, and Long-Term Care.

“Boomers Create a Surge in Luxury Care Communities”

“Boomers Create a Surge in Luxury Care Communities,” by Scott James, New York Times “Now, as the baby boom generation is about to enter its most senior years, billions of dollars are being invested in a building surge for high-end housing. The investments will test limits of consumer spending in an industry where regulations are inconsistent or lacking, and contracts are criticized for being confusing and complex. … The potential market is huge. By some industry estimates, 20 percent of baby boomers, or about 15 million people, have saved enough to afford private continuing care, with many expected to demand
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Categories: Clippings, Industry News, and Long-Term Care.

Coming Soon: Minimum Payment Implementation for 2019

Coming Soon: Minimum Payment Implementation for 2019 December 10, 2018 Beginning January of 2019, a twenty-five dollar minimum compensation payment will be implemented. What this means is, if your payment does not reach the minimum at the end of the pay period, that payment will carry over and pay out when your balance reaches twenty-five dollars. If you do not accumulate the minimum over a 12 month payment period, the balance forward amount will be released on or before December 31st. Please note, you will continue to receive compensation statements irrespective of the dollar amount that has been accumulated, but
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Categories: Industry News, Linked Benefit/Hybrids, and Securian.

(Legacy) Rate Adjustments Effective March 1, 2019 (IL, NM)

Long-Term Care insurance (LTCi) is a core product for Mutual of Omaha and we intend to remain a key player in this market for years to come. In order to fulfill this commitment, we actively monitor emerging industry trends as well as our own experience so we can make the adjustments necessary that will allow us to keep our promises to policyholders and remain competitive in the marketplace. For this reason, we will be implementing the following rate adjustments effective March 1, 2018: Block of Business Impacted States NHA, LTA Illinois LT50, NH50, NHA, HCA, LTA New Mexico    
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Categories: Industry News, Long-Term Care, and Mutual of Omaha (& Affiliates).

LTC Partnership Approved in Illinois

Great news! You will be able to offer Partnership in IL starting on January 1, 2019. The Partnership Program is designed to allow those who have a qualifying policy to protect their assets from Medicaid spend-down requirements on a dollar-for-dollar basis, equal to the amount of any long-term care insurance benefits received. For a policy to be eligible for Partnership, it must: Be tax-qualified (MutualCare® Solutions policies meet this requirement) Be purchased in a state where Partnership is approved Have inflation protection based on specific age brackets at time of purchase The Winflex and MutualCare® Solutions software will be updated
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Categories: Industry News, Long-Term Care, and Mutual of Omaha (& Affiliates).

Asset-Care product changes effective Jan. 1, 2019

To help maintain OneAmerica’s commitment to providing comprehensive, lifetime financial solutions for our clients, we are changing the availability of our joint life Asset-Care® acceleration options.   What’s changing Beginning Jan. 1, 2019, the option of joint life with 4% acceleration will no longer be available on any Asset-Care product. This change allows us to maintain a healthy, robust product portfolio and continue providing products for consumers that are more life and LTC balanced. Transition rules Please review the following deadlines to ensure applications are received and funded accordingly: All applications — both paper and electronic — must be received
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Categories: Industry News, Linked Benefit/Hybrids, and OneAmerica.

2019 Partnership Minimum Benefit Requirements for CA, CT, IN and NY

Each year, the original Partnership states (CA, CT, IN and NY) revisit minimum benefit requirements to qualify for their Partnership programs. The following information outlines the changes for 2019. California Partnership The minimum benefit requirements for Partnership in California will not change for 2019. See table below for the minimum requirements. Requirements 2018 2019 Minimum Daily Benefit $220 $220 Minimum Monthly Benefit $6,820 $6,820   Connecticut Partnerhsip To qualify for Partnership in Connecticut, policies must meet these minimum daily/monthly benefit requirements: Requirements 2018 2019 Minimum Daily Benefit $274 $283 Minimum Monthly Benefit $8,334 $8,608   Indiana Partnership The Total Asset
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Categories: Genworth, Industry News, and Long-Term Care.

Looking forward to 2019: A message from Tracey Edgar

We have a lot to look forward to in 2019 TRACEY EDGAR, ONEAMERICA® CARE SOLUTIONS DISTRIBUTION LEADER As I expressed in October, we at OneAmerica value your business and owe our success this year to each of you as our customer. I would now like to highlight improvements we’re making to show our commitment to excellence for you.   Making progress We’ve been making strides in the right direction. Our new case managers are training to increase one-on-one communications about underwriting decisions and next steps. We’ve increased our new business processing capacity by adding new underwriters, and we’ve successfully moved
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Categories: Industry News, Linked Benefit/Hybrids, and OneAmerica.