“Federal government paying insurers billions more than necessary: Kaiser,” by Tami Luhby, CNN Politics “The Kaiser Family Foundation found that seniors who enroll in Medicare Advantage typically spent $1,250 less in the year before they switched to an insurer-run plan, compared to those who remained in the traditional program, according to the report that was published Tuesday. They also used fewer health services, even if they had medical issues such as asthma, breast or prostate cancer and diabetes, than their peers in traditional Medicare. This means that the federal government may be overestimating the expected costs of Medicare Advantage enrollees, who may
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“Five Ways to Help Protect Retirement Income,” Advisor Magazine “Consider long-term-care insurance: Insurers base the cost largely on age, so the earlier you purchase a policy, the lower the annual premiums, though the longer you’ll potentially be paying for them. It is also important to research the strength of the company you select, as well as investigate other potential options for funding LTC costs. … Read the entire article here.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): “Other potential options for funding LTC costs?” The other big one is Medicaid planning, which this article should have explicitly
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“Genworth Reports Higher Earnings,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “Genworth Financial Inc. is posting stronger net earnings than it was a year ago, partly because of better results at its U.S. mortgage insurance unit, and partly because of better results at its long-term care insurance (LTCI) unit. … The company’s LTCI unit is reporting $42 million in net income on $1.1 billion in revenue, compared with a $27 million net loss on $1 billion in revenue. Net investment gains at the LTCI unit increased to $80 million, from $6 million. … Links to Genworth’s latest earnings release and financial supplement are available here.
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“Serving The Forgotten Middle: The Need For Financing And Innovation,” by Anne Tumlinson, Health Affairs Blog “In the ‘The Forgotten Middle: Many Middle-Income Seniors Will Have Insufficient Resources for Housing and Health Care,’ Caroline Pearson and coauthors share their analysis of the future financing gap for middle-income seniors — the gap between seniors housing options and the ability of future middle-class, high-need, older adults to afford them. They’ve identified a growing need for affordable supportive housing options for this group, especially as available family caregivers will decrease in relative terms. The authors present a number of good solutions. … They …
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“Better Care For People Dually Eligible For Medicare And Medicaid,” by Seema Verma, Health Affairs Blog “Twelve million Americans are simultaneously enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare, relying on the state and federal governments to separately administer different aspects of their health coverage. These dually eligible individuals experience high rates of chronic illness, with many having multiple chronic conditions and social risk factors. Forty-one percent of dually eligible individuals have at least one mental health diagnosis, and about half use long-term services and supports (LTSS). Medicare and Medicaid were originally created as distinct programs with different purposes and have operated as separate systems
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