“Advisor Alert: Learning Medicaid Planning Can Keep You From Getting Sued,” MedicaidPlanning.org “Every legal or financial advisor who works with seniors exposes themselves to LTC Medicaid eligibility malpractice from failing to understand how the advice that they give impacts or hinders Medicaid eligibility. Bad advice can have negative consequences. If those consequences cause the person receiving advice to be adversely affected, the legal or financial advisor can be sued and held accountable for the damage they caused.”   LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): This appears to be a new organization dedicated to promoting
Read More

“Genworth Says It’s Seeking Buyers for Canadian Unit,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “Genworth Financial Inc. says it’s actively trying to sell its Genworth MI Canada mortgage insurance unit, and that it intends to complete efforts to be acquired by China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co. Ltd. by Nov. 30. Genworth and Oceanwide remain committed to the merger agreement and continue to work towards closing as soon as possible,’ Genworth said, in comments made in connection with the release of second-quarter earnings.”   LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Finally, light at the end of the
Read More

“Does Long-Term Care Insurance Cover Assisted Living?,” by David Levine, U.S. News & World Report “About 1 in 6 assisted living residents relies on Medicaid to cover their costs, many of whom must spend down their personal assets first to qualify for Medicaid coverage, she adds. That’s where long-term care insurance comes in. Most LTC insurance policies cover expenses at an accredited assisted living facility. ‘Everything is policy-dependent, but most assisted living facilities are private pay and can be reimbursed by LTC,’ Dennis says.”   LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): More and more assisted living
Read More

“Average LTC policy claim amounts for assisted living top other settings,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living “Average individual long-term care insurance claim amounts for care in assisted living facilities are much higher than claim amounts for home care or care in nursing facilities, according to the 2019 Milliman Long Term Care Insurance Survey. Individual claims for all assisted living participants averaged $93,635, compared with $43,467 for home care and $63,751 for nursing facilities, according to the latest data, reported in Broker World. Individual claims for care in assisted living facilities are “consistently high,” the authors said. They offered four
Read More

“LTC leads hot healthcare market in first half of 2019,” by Kimberly Marselas, McKnight’s LTC News “The changing face of long-term care continues to drive merger and acquisition activity for the fifth straight year, according to two new reports. ​Deal volume involving long-term care and assisted living properties jumped 7.3% in the second quarter of 2019 versus the same period last year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ U.S. Health Services Deals Insights. … Its analysts said the sustained growth was influenced by numerous factors, including capital availability; interest rates; regulation, policy and tax reform impact; inpatient volumes pressure and high costs; cross-industry
Read More

“HHS Administrator Verma Issues Remarks at Better Medicare Alliance Medicare Advantage Summit,” InsuranceNewsNet “Let’s consider the Medicare fee-for-service program, the model for the public option and Medicare for All proposals. Medicare’s payment policies have distorted the market. We have incredibly talented public servants administering the Medicare program and I am honored to work with them, but Government price setters can’t possibly access all the information in the market, leading them inevitably to set rates either too high or too low from time to time, leading to surpluses and shortages. … What works in the Medicare program is Medicare Advantage –
Read More

“Life-LTC Hybrid Sales Level Off: LIMRA,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “LIMRA found that the number of ‘individual life insurance combination’ policies sold in the United States increased 2% in 2018, to 404,000. The total amount of new premium revenue associated with those combination policy sales fell 2%, to $4.3 billion. In 2017, LIMRA reported an 18% increase in the amount of new premium revenue associated with new combination policy sales. …  A copy of the LIMRA life-LTC combination products survey summary is available here.”   LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): More policies, less premium.
Read More

“Survey: Where assisted living is most expensive, least expensive,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living “Average monthly assisted living costs nationwide range from $4,136 for a studio apartment to $5,148 for a two-bedroom unit, but costs vary greatly based on location, according to the results of Lincoln Financial Group’s annual What Care Costs study, released Tuesday. … The whatcarecosts.com/Lincoln website includes long-term-care cost information for home health aides, assisted living communities and skilled nursing facilities for states and metropolitan areas across the country. Data can be sorted by type of care and geography. To see the data, enter the code ‘Lincoln’
Read More

“New standards aim to improve surgery for the oldest patients,” by Lauran Neergaard, ABC News “The American College of Surgeons launched a program Friday to encourage hospitals around the country to adopt 30 new standards to optimize surgery on patients who are 75 and older — information seniors and their families eventually will be able to use in choosing where to get care. Seniors account for more than 40% of surgeries, which is expected to grow as the population ages. Certainly there are plenty of robust elders who can withstand major operations.”   LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President,
Read More

“Frequent Sleeping Pill Use Linked to Increased Dementia Risk,” by Megan Brooks, Medscape “Older adults who reported taking sleep medications ‘often’ or ‘almost always’ were 43% more likely to develop dementia than those who never or rarely used sleep medications (hazard ratio [HR], 1.43; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 – 2.02). White participants reporting frequent use had a 79% higher dementia risk (HR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.21 – 2.66). There was no association in blacks (HR = 0.84; 95% CI, 0.38 – 1.83). The association did not differ by sex. … The associations were independent of age, sex, education, socioeconomic
Read More