“Can My Mom Pay Me Rent If She Will Be Applying for Medicaid?,” ElderLawAnswers Quote: “Q: My mother lives with me. Can she pay me rent and have it not count against her in the five-year Medicaid lookback period? Her monthly income is below poverty level, but she does have savings. A: Yes, she can pay fair market rent, as well as for her share of costs for food and utilities. This should be done under a written agreement so there’s no confusion about the purpose of the payments or her obligation to pay. Again, the payments should reflect the
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“Top 5 States for Long-Term Care Planning Increases,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor Quote: “Washington state triggered a rush to purchase stand-alone long-term care insurance and hybrid products that combine long-term care benefits with life insurance or annuities when it announced that it would impose a 0.58% payroll tax on workers who failed to have private LTC planning arrangements in place by Nov. 1, 2021. The number of Idaho and Oregon residents who bought LTC products in 2021 also soared, even though residents of those states faced no legal pressure to plan for long-term care costs.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A.
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“Medicaid HCBS study shows ‘we still know very little’ about COVID in senior living,” by Kimberly Bonvissuto, McKnight’s Senior Living Quote: Researchers found that for Medicaid HCBS recipients, excess mortality was 7.4 times that of other community-dwelling Medicaid beneficiaries and 26.6 times that of the general population. Excess mortality for HCBS recipients 65 and older was slightly higher, but comparable with older nursing home residents.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: In case you needed another reason to avoid Medicaid and plan to pay privately for top quality long-term care, here it is.  
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“81 percent of nursing homes receive less than cost of care for Medicaid patients: analysis,” by Kimberly Marselas, McKnight’s LTC News Quote: “Measures of base payments relative to costs varied widely, ranging from less than 70% of costs for 15% of facilities to more than 100% of costs for 19% of facilities. The median Medicaid base payment rate in 2019 was 86% of costs.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: When you’re losing money on every patient, you can’t make up for it in volume!     Subscribe to GoldenCare News  
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“CMS releases new Medicaid guidance for states to tackle unmet social needs,” by Susan Morse, HealthCareFinance Quote: “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released new guidance for states to address health-related social needs for Medicaid beneficiaries. This is being done through the use of ‘in lieu of services and settings’ in Medicaid managed care. The option will help states offer alternative benefits to meet needs from housing instability and food insecurity. States may adopt in ‘lieu of services and settings’ to offer medically appropriate, cost-effective tailored meals for people with severe, chronic health conditions that are made worse
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“California to Reality-Check $144K Public Long-Term Care Benefits Package,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor Quote: “California policymakers have paid a consulting firm to tell it how much setting up an attractive public long-term care benefits program might cost. The California Long Term Care Insurance Task Force has developed a list of five possible LTC benefits programs, and it has hired Oliver Wyman to study each proposal’s finances. The state would use a payroll tax to pay for a new LTC benefits program. The task force expects Oliver Wyman to report back by Jan. 1, 2024. California lawmakers would then decide whether to implement an LTC
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“2023: The Year Medicare Advantage Begins To Dominate Traditional Medicare,” by Bruce Japsen, Forbes Quote: “With almost one in two seniors now enrolled in the privatized health plan alternative to traditional Medicare known as ‘Medicare Advantage,’ look for growth to escalate in 2023 and beyond. Though there have been probes into aggressive marketing practices and other allegations against Medicare Advantage plans, the privatized program has survived myriad examinations by lawmakers and prosecutors and is now one of the more bipartisan policy initiatives in Washington with more than 28 million seniors enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan in 2022, which accounted for 48% of Americans
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“’Must Pass’ Spending Bill Includes 401(k) LTCI Premium Provision,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor Quote: “A 401(k) plan participant could spend up to $2,500 per year in distributions on long-term care insurance premiums. The distributions would be included in taxable income but not subject to the 10% early withdrawal tax. The language is similar to the language in section 213 in the stand-alone version of the EARN Act.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: Fingers crossed for this provision to pass, although the Omnibus containing it is dubious fiscal policy.     Subscribe to GoldenCare
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“Regulators End Effort to Develop Long-Term Care Hybrid Rules,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor Quote: “The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has stopped trying to develop new regulations for new types of long-term care benefits products, such as those that combine long-term care benefits with life insurance. Members of the NAIC’s Senior Issues Task Force have voted to shut down an arm — the Long-Term Care Insurance Model Update Subgroup — because the last chair quit in December 2021, finding a new chair has been difficult, and only one person has asked about the subgroup since the last chair left.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President,
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“Enemies,” by Ronald R. Hagelman, Broker World Quote: “In my humble opinion no one has been a more consistent hard headed advocate of exposing the corrosive relationship between the public response to custodial care for the aged and the lack of success in private responses to reduce and return control of individual claims destiny than Stephen Moses. His most recent manifesto ‘Long-Term Care: The Problem’ recently released from the Paragon Health Institute once again provides conclusive irrefutable evidence that the still mushrooming consequence of current market conditions is the fault of existing misguided public response to the problem. The truth
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