“Medigap Offers Agents Years Of Strong Commissions,” by Cyril Tuohy, InsuranceNewsNet “The Medigap market is large – about 14 million Medigap policies were in-force last year – according to CSG Actuarial. As Medigap enrollment continues to grow at rates exceeding overall Medicare enrollment growth over the next decade, that will mean more opportunity for insurers, agent and marketing organizations, CSG Actuarial’s projections show. … LTCi agent Nicole Gurley said about three or four years ago she began to notice ‘an exodus or refocus’ on the Medigap market by many LTCi brokers. It wasn’t much different from healthcare insurance brokers moving
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“10% of Surveyed Seniors Say They’ll Fund Long-Term Care with Reverse Mortgages,” by Alex Spanko, Reverse Mortgage Daily “A recent survey found that 10% of seniors aging alone plan on using reverse mortgages to pay for long-term care costs — a number that lags behind other sources, but still represents a potential area of opportunity for the industry. The vast majority of respondents — 68% — identified savings and investments as a source of long-termcare funding, followed by “out of pocket” at 47% and long-term care insurance at 33%. Only life insurance had fewer responses, with just 3% of respondents
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“In-force LTC Rate Increases Continue, Some Lower Than Actuarially Justified,” by Jason Woleben, Advisor Magazine “Regulators continue to grant rate hikes for insurers’ legacy blocks of long-term care business, though in some instances the increases are significantly below what are actuarially justified. In total, regulators across 40 states approved 254 rate filings seeking premiums increases during the second quarter, according to information collected by S&P Global Market Intelligence.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Insurers share the pain of premium increases with policy holders. More evidence policy holders are still getting a good deal despite the
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“Long-Term Care Hospitals: A Case Study in Waste,” by Liran Einav, Amy Finkelstein, Neale Mahoney, National Bureau of Economic Research “There is substantial waste in U.S. healthcare, but little consensus on how to identify or combat it. We identify one specific source of waste: long-term care hospitals (LTCHs). These post-acute care facilities began as a regulatory carve-out for a few dozen specialty hospitals, but have expanded into an industry with over 400 hospitals and $5.4 billion in annual Medicare spending in 2014. We use the entry of LTCHs into local hospital markets and an event study design to estimate LTCHs’
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“The big difference between long-term care and long-term disability insurance,” by Liisa Granfors-Hunt, Employee Benefit News “The longer people live, the more likely they are to face illnesses that necessitate custodial care either at home, in an assisted-living facility, or in a nursing home. So it stands to reason that there’s a resurgence of interest in long-term care and long-term disability insurance. While the two types of coverage have similar names, they’re very different. As an employer, it’s important to understand the difference and educate employees on why they’d need each type of coverage. Here is a rundown.” LTC Comment
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“Autobiographical memory tested for early Alzheimer’s detection,” Science Daily “Testing how well people remember past events in their lives could help medical professionals make early predictions about who is at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from the University of Arizona.  Researchers administered an ‘autobiographical memory’ test to a group of 35 healthy adults, about half of whom carry the gene variant APOE e4 — a known genetic risk factor that nearly doubles the chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease. As a group, those with the genetic risk described memories with much less detail than those without
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“Plan ahead to protect your family and your fortune from this retirement risk,” by Darla Mercado, CNBC “Not everyone will wind up needing care in an assisted-living facility in old age, but everybody should plan for it, just in case. … Cheng suggested using these three questions as guidelines in drafting your long-term care plan. Where do you want to receive care? … Who’s in charge of your medical decisions? … Who should make financial decisions for you?” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Pretty superficial advice, but at least from a major financial
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“A Late-Life Surprise: Taking Care Of Frail, Aging Parents,” by Judith Graham, Kaiser Health News “‘When we think of an adult child caring for a parent, what comes to mind is a woman in her late 40s or early 50s,’ said Lynn Friss Feinberg, senior strategic policy adviser for AARP’s Public Policy Institute. ‘But it’s now common for people 20 years older than that to be caring for a parent in their 90s or older.’ A new analysis from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College is the first to document how often this happens. It found that 10
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“75 Must-Know Statistics About Long-Term Care: 2018 Edition,” by Christine Benz, Morningstar  “If there’s a single unsolved problem in the retirement plans for many middle- and upper-middle-income adults, it’s what to do about long-term care costs later in life. … If you’re among the people who are still on the fence about what to do, the best way to make smart decisions is to go into the process armed with the facts. How likely are you to need long-term care and for how long? What does long-term care cost, and what does it cost to insure against it? In the
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“China Beckons to US Skilled Nursing, Long-Term Care Operators,” by Alex Spanko, Skilled Nursing News “Amid difficult trends at home, a handful of U.S. long-term care operators have looked to Asia as their next potential frontier – and while their strategies differ, they all believe in the region’s potential.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Will China allow a private market in long-term care services and financing to thrive or stifle it as the U.S. did by allowing consumers to ignore LTC risk and later access publicly financed care while preserving most wealth? China
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