“Heart Attacks Fall One-Third Among Older Americans,” by Steven Reinberg, “The study of more than 4 million Medicare patients found that hospitalizations for heart attacks dropped 38 percent between 1995 and 2014. At the same time, deaths within 30 days of a heart attack reached an all-time low of 12 percent, down more than one-third since 1995.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Less heart disease = More Alzheimer’s.
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“Many baby boomers willing to receive long-term care outside the home, LeadingAge poll finds,” by Marty Stempniak, McKnight’s LTC News “Baby boomers may be more willing to receive long-term care outside the home than was commonly believed, according to a LeadingAge poll released Monday. Up to 40% of respondents would want to live somewhere other than their current home or apartment if they had a physical disability that required them to need help with daily activities, the survey found. About 14% of the respondents indicated they would move to a place that is staffed to provide healthcare should the need for
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“LTCI Reinsurer Guards Against Problems at Its Own Reinsurers,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “In the insurance industry, a ‘direct writer’ is an insurance company that sells insurance policies directly to customers. A reinsurer insures the direct writer. An LTCI reinsurer might protect a direct LTCI writer against some or all of the risk associated with providing LTCI coverage. A retrocessionaire, third-party reinsurer, insures the reinsurer. In the LTCI world, an LTCI retrocessionaire might protect a company like GE Capital against some or all of the risk of providing LTCI reinsurance. … Links to an audio recording of the LTCI reinsurance
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“Making the Most of a Health Savings Account Once You Turn Age 65,” by Kimberly Lankford, Kiplinger “After age 65, you can use HSA money tax-free for several extra expenses, such as paying your monthly premiums for Medicare Part B and Part D and Medicare Advantage plans. If you have your Medicare premiums paid automatically from your Social Security benefits, you can withdraw the money tax-free from the HSA to reimburse yourself for those expenses. And you can continue to use HSA money tax-free to pay your out-of-pocket costs for medical care and prescription drugs, dental and vision care, a
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“Genworth to Suspend LTCI and Annuity Sales Through BGAs,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “Genworth Financial Inc. says it will temporarily suspend sales of long-term care insurance (LTCI) and immediate annuities through the brokerage general agency (BGA) channel, in all states, starting Monday. Genworth announced the sales suspension Thursday, in a bulletin. The Richmond, Virginia-based company is making the move because sales through BGAs, or independent distributors, have already fallen sharply, in part because of the company’s low credit ratings, the company said in a statement.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): What’s next? “China
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“GE’s Fix-It Plan for Insurance: Raise Rates, Boost Returns,” by Thomas Gryta and Leslie Scism, Wall Street Journal “General Electric Co. GE +3.24% sought to reassure investors that it has a handle on its troubled insurance business, saying it is pushing to raise premiums paid by tens of thousands of older Americans and shifting its investments to boost returns on its reserves. The company took the unusual step of hosting a presentation Thursday by GE’s top insurance executives to explain the business, a legacy of GE Capital’s once sprawling operations. While GE spun off or sold much of its insurance business a decade ago, it held
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“Why the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s could more than double by 2050,” by Laura Santhanam, PBS News Hour “Barring breakthroughs in treatment, the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease is projected to more than double by 2050, rising to 13.8 million Americans age 65 or older from 5.8 million today. That’s according to a new report from the Alzheimer’s Association released Tuesday. Here’s a closer look at why medical experts are expecting a spike in Alzheimer’s, what we know about associated health costs and what’s next for research and treatment. … Fainting and falling are the most frequent
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“Americans Cite Healthcare Expenses as No. 1 Barrier to Early Retirement,” Advisor Magazine “When asked to name barriers to financial independence and early retirement, Americans are less concerned about uncertain market conditions (37 percent) or inflation (35 percent), than they are about healthcare costs (57 percent), according to a new survey conducted for TD Ameritrade, of 1,500 Americans aged 45 and older with $250,000 or more in investable assets. … Only 19 percent cite long-term care costs for a family member and unexpected costs to care for a family member as top worries about retiring early.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A.
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“CDC updates report on assisted living community characteristics,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living “A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics sheds light on the characteristics of the 28,900 assisted living and similar residential care communities that were providing long-term care services as of 2016. The report, titled ‘Long-Term Care Providers and Services Users in the United States: 2015-2016’  (PDF), is ‘intended to inform policy makers, providers, researchers, consumer advocates, the media, foundations, and others to inform planning for long-term care services,’ according to the authors.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A.
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“Will $14.5 billion plug GE’s long-term care insurance hole? Some experts say ‘No’,” by Alwyn Scott, Reuters “General Electric Co is setting aside one of the largest amounts ever to cover potential losses on policies that provide long-term care in nursing facilities and patients’ homes. But insurance experts are concerned that may not be enough.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Thanks again, Buck Stinson.
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