“The Great Long-Term Care Compromise”

“The Great Long-Term Care Compromise,” by Stephen A. Moses, Broker World    Quote: “The Great Long Term Care Compromise invites social insurance advocates to relinquish their demand for compulsory universal participation. It requires free market advocates to agree with mandatory participation for all who do not opt out. If both sides can make those concessions, we can quickly get everyone covered for long term care now and for the future.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: Please read this article and let me know what you think of the solution it proposes. Thanks for
Read More

Categories: Clippings and Industry News.

“Long-term care insurers pay out $12.3 billion in claims”

“Long-term care insurers pay out $12.3 billion in claims,” by Kathleen Steele Galvin, McKnight’s Senior Living    Quote: “Long-term care insurers paid out $12.3 billion in claims nationwide during 2021, a significant increase over prior years, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. … The association’s report represents claims for those owning traditional or health-based long-term care insurance but does not include data for those who have purchased a linked-benefit policy, such as life insurance or annuity policies that also can provide payout money to pay for long-term care needs.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for
Read More

Categories: Clippings and Industry News.

“Federal Government Approves California’s Medicaid Overhaul”

“Federal Government Approves California’s Medicaid Overhaul,” by Don Thompson, AP    Quote: “The U.S. government has approved California‘s overhaul of the nation’s largest insurance program for low-income and disabled residents, officials said Wednesday, a decision that among other things allows Medicaid money to be spent on housing-related services as the most populous state struggles with homelessness and a lack of affordable housing. … Aside from covering one of every three Californians, Medi-Cal covers more than half of school-age children, half of births in California, and more than two of every three patient days in long-term care facilities, officials said. … California’s
Read More

Categories: Clippings and Industry News.

“Medicaid for All’ is rapidly becoming a reality in New York”

“‘Medicaid for All’ is rapidly becoming a reality in New York,” by Editorial Board, New York Post    Quote: “In New York, it looks like the Democrats’ dream of ‘Medicare for All’ is rapidly becoming a reality. Or at least ‘Medicaid for All.’ … And this is supposed to be a backstop program for just the poorest New Yorkers. Gotham enrolls an even higher share of its residents in Medicaid: more than 4 million people, or nearly half of the city’s 8.8 million people. … Clearly, the state needs to better screen applicants. But it also needs to rethink how
Read More

Categories: Clippings and Industry News.

“The irony of long-term care advocacy”

“The irony of long-term care advocacy,” by Stephen A. Moses, McKnight’s LTC News    Quote: “Long-term care faces a world of hurt. The COVID pandemic worsened the profession’s chronic long-term problems including revenue shortfalls, caregiver shortages and wage pressures. Researchers, operators and policymakers ask ‘What should be done?’ … No wonder long-term care and senior housing face so many problems. With the goal of reducing individual risk, we ceded responsibility for planning, saving, insuring and funding senior care to the government, which is singularly incapable to do the job. No one cares more about personal well-being than the individual human being
Read More

Categories: Clippings, Industry News, and State LTC Programs.

“Here’s How Not to Reform Long Term Care,” by Gregg Girvan”

“Here’s How Not to Reform Long Term Care,” by Gregg Girvan, The Dispatch    Quote: “The reimbursement rates in Medicaid lie at the heart of the problems with BBB’s LTC funding. The bill attempts to extend home- and community-based services to hundreds of thousands currently on waiting lists while simultaneously recognizing that providers must hire more workers with meager Medicaid rates and a historically tight labor market. Therefore, while the bill provides an additional 6 percent match to provide services to those on waiting lists, it also requires states to develop processes to increase direct care worker pay. While the
Read More

Categories: Clippings and Industry News.

“Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and the Risk of Dementia”

 “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and the Risk of Dementia,” by Eugene Rubin, Psychology Today    Quote: “Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a chronic and disabling illness. As persons with obsessive-compulsive disorder age, they may be at increased risk to develop dementias. Dementias may develop several years earlier in persons with obsessive-compulsive disorder when compared to persons without this disorder.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: If you were staring dementia in the face, you’d become obsessive-compulsive too.             Subscribe to GoldenCare News  
Read More

Categories: Clippings and Industry News.

“How record Social Security cost-of-living adjustment will be impacted by high inflation, Medicare premiums”

“How record Social Security cost-of-living adjustment will be impacted by high inflation, Medicare premiums,” by Lorie Konish, CNBC    Quote: “A 5.9% increase to Social Security benefits next year will be the highest in four decades. Yet inflation is climbing at a faster pace year-over-year at 6.8%, according to the latest Consumer Price Index data. Larger monthly checks may not offset the pressures of higher day-to-day prices, Medicare Part B premiums and taxes on benefits.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: Inflation is the cruelest tax of all, quoth Milton Friedman. So much for
Read More

Categories: Clippings and Industry News.

“Who will have unmet long-term care needs?”

“Who will have unmet long-term care needs?,” by Alicia H. Munnell, MarketWatch Quote: “The bottom line is that when Medicaid is added to family and financial resources, most Americans can meet most of their needs for long-term care. Participants in 401(k) plans should be somewhat more sanguine than they are about using their balances to support their consumption in retirement.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: What this study and author don’t understand is that Medicaid is doing much more than supplementing “family and financial resources.” Medicaid largely supplants private LTC spending and relieves
Read More

Categories: Clippings and Industry News.

“Are Medicaid annuities sound crisis-planning tools?”

“Are Medicaid annuities sound crisis-planning tools?,” by Jeffrey Levine, Financial Planning   Quote: “At a high level, a Medicaid annuity is a tool that can allow a married couple to convert countable assets of the couple into the ‘ignored’ income of a healthy spouse. More specifically, when a married couple’s assets exceed the amount of countable assets they will be allowed to keep, they can ‘spend’ the excess assets by purchasing an annuity that pays income only to the healthy spouse. And since the healthy spouse’s income doesn’t prevent the institutional spouse from being eligible for Medicaid (thanks to the
Read More

Categories: Clippings and Industry News.