“Freedom in the 50 States,” by William Ruger and Jason Sorens, Cato Institute    Quote: “The overall freedom ranking is a combination of personal and economic freedoms. … This edition again improves on the methodology for weighting and combining state and local policies to create a comprehensive index. Authors William Ruger and Jason Sorens introduce many new policy variables suggested by readers and changes in the broader policy environment (for example, vaping regulations). More than 230 policy variables and their sources remain available to the public on this website.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care
Read More

“Long Term Care Irony,” by Stephen A. Moses, Broker World    Quote: “So here’s the answer to the ‘Long Term Care Irony.’ People don’t buy private long term care insurance when the government pays for most catastrophic long term care costs, as it has done through Medicaid since 1965. No amount of cajoling, positive or negative incentives will get them to buy. But create a real cost for long term care by forcing them into a payroll-funded government long term care program and they’ll rush to buy private coverage if that escape hatch is available. The lesson for state and
Read More

“Long-term care tops list of retirement concerns of American workers: study,” by Kimberly Bonvissuto, McKnight’s Senior Living    Quote: “Paying for long-term care, declining health that requires long-term care, and outliving savings and investments are among the top retirement concerns of American workers, according to the results of a new survey. Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, which has conducted a national retirement attitudes survey of U.S. employers and workers since 1998, released the study, which focuses on the risks and realities negatively affecting workers’ retirement security. Respondents’ most frequently cited retirement fears include outliving their savings and investments (42%), declining health that
Read More

“Senior living, home most frequent destinations after hospital discharge of Medicare beneficiaries,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living     Quote: “The community (assisted living communities, retirement communities and homes) was the most frequent post-discharge destination in that time period across all regions of the country, higher than skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term acute care hospitals, hospice programs and other inpatient hospitals.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: Times are changing in long-term care when mostly private-pay senior living outdraws mostly government-financed nursing homes for hospital discharges. This is
Read More