“U.S. Long-Term Care Insurance Users Average $1.4M in Household Wealth: Study,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “For long-term care insurance users ages 85 and older, the median level of household wealth was $504,000 and the average level of wealth was $881,000. The wealth figures included the value of the insureds’ homes. Jonathan Gruber, an MIT economist, and Kathleen McGarry, a Stony Brook University economist, put those long-term care insurance facts and more, based on data from the RAND-HRS and Health Retirement Study, in a new working paper about how the United States pays for long-term care for older Americans.” LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President,
Read More

“The Own Your Future LTSS Funding and Services Initiative: Options to Increase Access to Long-Term Care Financing, Services, and Supports in Minnesota,” prepared by FTI Consulting, Inc, Actuarial Research Corporation, and the Altarum Institute, for the Minnesota Department of Human Services Aging and Disability Services Administration “In partnership with Own Your Future, a DHS Adult and Aging Services Division (AASD) initiative, FTI Consulting, Altarum Institute, and Actuarial Research Corporation, facilitated a stakeholder engagement process to solicit recommendations to transform LTSS access and identify funding options. … The recommendations developed through the stakeholder process include the following: 1. Care Navigation &
Read More

“State Medicaid expenses to grow as federal dollars wane in FY 2024,” by Adam Healy, McKnight’s Home Care “As the federal government sunsets pandemic-spurred Medicaid funding, states will be expected to foot the bill to keep Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS), which include home- and community-based services (HCBS), afloat. An increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), which provided enhanced federal Medicaid funding for states, is set to phase out next month as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. To make up for these lost funds, state Medicaid spending is projected to increase by more than 17%
Read More

“A Long-Term Solution To America’s Long-Term Care Crisis,” by Sally Pipes, Forbes “Indeed, Medicaid has become such a major source of long-term care coverage that middle-income and even some wealthy Americans rely on the program to support them in their twilight years. … It is precisely this perverse incentive that Stephen A. Moses outlined in his 2022 Paragon Health Institute paper ‘Long-Term Care: The Problem.’ Moses, one of the nation’s leading experts in long-term care, determined that access to Medicaid and other publicly-funded safety nets ‘discourages responsible [long-term care] planning when people are still young, healthy, and affluent enough to
Read More

“10 Things You Should Know About Long-Term Care Insurance,” by David Rodeck, Kiplinger “While Medicaid can pay for long-term care, it generally only kicks in after you’ve spent down virtually all of your assets. Before then, you typically have three options.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: This “fallacy of impoverishment” shows up in almost every article about LTC financing. We explain why that happens; we refute the conventional wisdom; we show how this mistaken notion is at the root of everything that is wrong with long-term care; and we propose a solution in
Read More

“Brian Blase Discusses Affordable Care Act Enrollment,” by C-SPAN Washington Journal “Paragon Health Institute President Brian Blase discusses enrollment on the Affordable Care Act as the 2024 sign-up period begins and new research on the shortcomings of the ACA exchanges.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: If, like me, you’re confounded by the complexity, cost, and perverse incentives of the ACA (aka ObamaCare), watch this 45-minute interview with Brian Blase, president of the Paragon Health Institute, which recently published our papers titled “Long-Term Care: The Problem” and “Long-Term Care: The Solution.” Brian clearly and
Read More

“Does It Make Sense to Self-Fund Long-Term Care Expense?,” by Margie Barrie, ThinkAdvisor “Planning ahead by buying a long-term care policy means your client doesn’t have to worry about which accounts to spend down and which to preserve, or about the capital gains implications.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: Click through for additional considerations.     Subscribe to GoldenCare News  
Read More