“One hour a week of physical activity can hold off disability, study says”, by Brett Molina, USA Today “Older adults with pain in their hips or legs can ward off disability by performing physical activity for as little as one hour a week, according to a study published Monday. The study from researchers at Northwestern Medicine found that less than 10 minutes a day of moderate physical activity was enough to help older adults avoid limitations to their movement.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): And an apple a day will keep the doctor
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“Another Shock To The Long-Term Care Insurance Industry”, by Howard Gleckman, Forbes “Last week, I attended the industry’s annual conference in Chicago. Many programs focused on finding better ways to measure risk and others were about dementia—the single biggest uncertainty for both carriers and consumers. Roughly half of all long-term care insurance claims come from policyholders with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Other sessions discussed public options for long-term care coverage, such as pending legislation in Washington State to create a social insurance benefit of $36,500. Many insurance executives who had long criticized public programs such as Washington’s, now see it as an
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“Reverse Mortgage: Types and Examples”, by Eric Reed, The Street “There are two ways to look at a reverse mortgage. First: Only get a reverse mortgage if you absolutely have to. Doing so will encumber a home you should own outright, limiting your ability to move or pass the home on to your family. Second: A reverse mortgage lets you use your home as a semi-liquid investment property. For a fee you can access the cash value of your house without having to sell it, allowing you to both tap it as a financial resource and still live there. Here’s what
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“5 Medicare Advantage Sample Size LTC Benefits Reactions”, by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “Medicare Advantage program managers abruptly encouraged insurers to jam a few non-medical ‘supplemental benefits’ into their benefits packages for 2019. Some insurers added the kinds of benefits that might be covered by a short-term care insurance or long-term care insurance (LTCI) policy, such as adult day care services, homemaker services, and support for caregivers. Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) recently put more fleshed-out rules for ‘chronic care’ benefits in a draft version of a bidding document for the 2020 Medicare Advantage program. Insurance company
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“Transamerica Announces Agreement With LTCG for Administration of Long Term Care Insurance,” Transamerica “LTCG will provide comprehensive third party administration services for Transamerica’s long term care insurance product line including new business, policyholder service, claims processing and care management. … ‘LTCG is fully committed to the long term care insurance industry, and continues to invest in the technology, people, and innovations in the wellness programs and provider solutions needed to demonstrate this dedication to insurers and their policyholders,’ said Peter Goldstein, CEO of LTCG. ‘We’re honored to serve Transamerica customers who are protecting their future through these long term care insurance
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“NAIFA Launches Long-Term Care Planning Center,” by Allison Bell, Think Advisor “The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors is introducing a new long-term care (LTC) planning program today, in Chicago, at the Intercompany Long Term Care Insurance Conference. The new NAIFA Limited & Extended Care Planning Center will offer professional designation programs and other resources for insurance agents and financial advisors, NAIFA said in a center launch announcement. Carroll Golden will serve as the LECP Center’s first executive director. Golden has worked as an LTCI executive at LifeSecure Insurance Company and at Transamerica.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses,
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“Majority of Americans think government should pay for long-term care,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living “A majority of Americans believe that the government should be primarily responsible for paying for the long-term care needs of older adults in the future but that the responsibility mainly will fall to the older adults themselves or to their families, according to the results of a poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. Fifty-five percent of the 2,524 people polled in December said that, 30 years from now, the government should be mostly responsible for paying for long-term care, whereas 28% said the older adults
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“LTC Hybrid Experience Looks Great: Milliman Actuaries,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “Many U.S. life insurers have been moving toward more sales of long-term care (LTC) benefits added to life insurance policies  or annuity contracts, and away from sales of stand-alone long-term care insurance (LTCI) policies. One question has been: Do the LTC hybrid products really produce better results for the issuers than stand-alone LTCI policies, or do the hybrid products simply free protection against long-term care risk from being associated with a product type that’s out of favor? Actuaries from Milliman Inc. have looked at a few years of early experience
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“Survey Identifies Long-Term Care Planning Resisters,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “SOA analysts found, for example, that 46% of the oldest old survey participants said that they had had no discussions about the type of lifestyle they wanted for the rest of their lives. About 34% said they had already made plans for coping with LTC costs, and 11% said they intended to do that. But 49% said they hadn’t planned for LTC costs and were not going to plan for LTC costs. Similarly, 42% of the adult children with oldest old parents said their parents had planned for LTC costs,
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“Private LTC insurers say fewer beneficiaries using plans for nursing homes than believed,” by Marty Stempniak, McKnight’s LTC News “Fewer people are using private long-term care insurance for subsidizing a skilled nursing facility stay, according to a new analysis. Only about 30% of claims for such plans ended with the beneficiaries in a SNF. The vast majority of LTC insurance claims both begin and end in an individual’s home, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, which based its study on 2018 claims data from seven insurers. … About 72% of claims last year ended with the death
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