“Washington Becomes First State to Approve Publicly Funded Long-Term Care,” by Rachel M. Cohen, The Intercept “The ultimate goal, advocates say, is some kind of universal family care, a comprehensive social infrastructure to support all the varied costs of care work from birth to death. ‘That’s our North Star,’ said Sarita Gupta, co-director of Caring Across Generations, a national campaign that launched in 2011. ‘We have really been trying to help people go from seeing care work as an individual burden to a shared responsibility that we’re all going to face.’” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for
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“Is most home care paid by government programs?,” by Yanqui Xu, PolitiFact “For the aging and those with long-term care needs, receiving care at home is more affordable than institutionalized facilities like hospitals or nursing homes. But presidential candidate John Delaney argued on Twitter that even with jobs growing in the home care industry, workers are struggling with low wages because ‘most of home care is paid by government programs, which don’t pay enough.’ Is home care really funded mostly by government programs? We decided to check. … Long-term unskilled care at home is paid for by out-of-pocket private payers,
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“In 10 Years, Half Of Middle-Income Elders Won’t Be Able To Afford Housing, Medical Care,” by Virginia Knight, Kaiser Health News “The study suggests that policymakers could expand Medicare benefits to include access to a wider range of supportive services, or create a new benefit, ‘Medicare Part E,’ that funds long-term care. However, other attempts to set up such a program have run into resistance among lawmakers because of cost. While Medicaid is the primary payer of long-term nursing home care, right now the program is available only to low-income seniors. Seniors may become eligible if they impoverish themselves. However,
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“Medicaid Could Save $2.6 Billion a Year With Dip in Smoking,” by Robert Preidt, HealthDay “Just a 1% decrease in the number of Medicaid recipients who smoke could save the insurance program billions of dollars a year, a new study suggests. Over one year, that small decline in smoking and its associated health harms would lead to $2.6 billion in total Medicaid savings the following year and millions for each state, researchers found.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): The sad irony is that those smoking quitters will live longer, die slower, and cost
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“Medicare Will Be Insolvent by 2026, Government Report Warns,” by Andrew Taylor, Time “The financial condition of the government’s bedrock retirement programs for middle- and working-class Americans remains shaky, with Medicare pointed toward insolvency by 2026, according to a report Monday by the government’s overseers of Medicare and Social Security. It paints a sobering picture of the programs, though it’s relatively unchanged from last year’s update. Social Security would become insolvent in 2035, one year later than previously estimated.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): By any legitimate measure both of these programs are
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“Is 75 the new 65? Wealthy countries need to rethink what it means to be old,” by Warren Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov, The Conversation “When we say that 75 is the new 65, we mean something similar – that 75-year-olds now have the same remaining life expectancy as 65-year-olds in the past. Adjusting age for changes in remaining life expectancy is called adjustment for “age inflation.” It’s just like adjusting the value of the dollar for changes in purchasing power. … When exactly will population aging end? It depends on whether you’re looking at the adjusted proportion of people who are
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“Washington State’s Public Long-Term Care Program Is On The Verge Of Becoming Law,” by Howard Gleckman, Forbes “A first-in-the-nation state long-term care insurance program is likely to become law within a few weeks. In Washington State, both houses of the legislature have approved the measure, though they must resolve relatively minor differences between the two bills. Gov. Jay Inslee has promised to sign it. … At a recent industry conference, private long-term care insurance carriers expressed some interest in developing products to supplement Washington’s relatively limited state coverage.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Will
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“Midwest is best, when it comes to the 30 best cities for older Americans in retirement,” by Grant Suneson and Samuel Stebbins, USA Today “Nearly all of the 30 best cities for older Americans are in the Midwest. Wisconsin has the most cities on this list with eight, followed by Minnesota with five, Iowa with four, and Illinois, North Dakota, and Missouri with two apiece.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): If the best states for retirement are in the frozen north, why is everyone moving to the sunny south?
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“Bill Gates says there could be a way to predict Alzheimer’s using a voice app that listens for ‘warning signs’,” by Aria Bendix, Business Insider “Scientists have yet to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, a disease whose symptoms include memory loss, impaired judgment, and difficulty speaking. About 14 million Americans are expected to be living with Alzheimer’s by 2050. Doctors rely mostly on physical symptoms to diagnose the disease, though they can also use spinal taps and brain scans to detect it. But Bill Gates envisions a future in which people can predict Alzheimer’s before symptoms manifest using a voice app on their
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“’Generation Alpha’ Babies Arrive With Caregiving Obligations,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “About 47% of Millennial caregivers who have children, or plan to have children, say they expect those children to help pay for their long-term care, according to survey results released recently by Northwestern Mutual. … Only about 16% of the Baby Boomer caregivers surveyed, and 35% of the Generation X caregivers surveyed, are counting on their children to help pay for long-term care, according to Northwestern Mutual.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): What would “The Who” have to say about Gen A?
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