“Many Now Use Life-LTC Hybrids to Pay for Care: Genworth,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor   Quote: “About 23% of U.S. residents getting long-term care may be using some form of private insurance to pay for long-term care services. Many are using stand-alone long-term care insurance (LTCI) coverage, almost as many are using products that combine long-term care with life insurance, and some are using both stand-alone LTCI coverage and life-LTC or annuity-LTC hybrids. Genworth Financial reported those findings Monday, in a summary of results from a recent survey that looks at how long-term care needs affect families. The survey sample
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“Family feels less guilt when loved one moves to assisted living versus nursing home: study,” by Kimberly Bonvissuto, McKnight’s Senior Living   Quote: “Loved ones who moved an older adult into assisted living reported having greater feelings of guilt related to that move due limits to their ability to provide assistance (35%) compared with providing care at home (22%), moving an older adult into a caregiver’s home (15%) or sending an older adult to an adult day facility (9%). The feelings of guilt were greater for families with loved ones that moved into nursing homes, however (40%). … Researchers said
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“Caregiving becoming more complex, consuming for family members, surveys reveal,” by Diane Eastabrook, McKnight’s Home Care   Quote: “Two recent surveys by financial services companies paint a stark picture for family caregivers. Genworth’s 2021 Cost of Care Survey of more than 1,300 family caregivers found 49% of care recipients required help in all aspects of daily living; that’s an increase from 39% in 2018. The survey found an increase in cognitive impairments among care recipients from 26% in 2018 to 32% this year. … The Genworth survey supports the findings of the recent Fidelity Investments American Caregivers study. That study found that
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“Redesigning The Washington Cares Act,” by Louis H. Brownstone, Broker World   Quote: “What can others learn from the Washington Cares Act experience? The main take-away is that in its efforts to be all-inclusive and ensure its solvency, the designers of the Washington Cares Act included some elements which were not well accepted by its participants and which might need some revising in the future. The problem is that many of these revisions would result in a shortfall of revenue and could necessitate an increase in the tax.” LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: The
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“Long-Term Care Insurers May Have to Keep Their Policies: Regulators,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor   Quote: “State insurance regulators are trying to develop rules that insurers could use to transfer blocks of business to other entities with finality, without worries about whether responsibility for the claims will come back to haunt them. Many issuers of long-term care insurance (LTCI) would love to transfer responsibility for blocks of LTCI business to another entity.” LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: Some relationships are hard to break.             Subscribe to GoldenCare News  
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“Caregiving Caused Me to Divorce My Siblings,” by Robert L. Peta, NextAvenue Quote: “During the 15 years I spent as my mother’s primary caregiver, I heard this story endlessly from strangers and friends: ‘I’m caring for Mom (or Dad) and none of my siblings is lifting a finger.’ Sometimes, the deserted parent in the story had been an ogre; more often, they’d been, like my own mother, beloved by all her kids.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: We thank Lynn Voss of long-time Center friend and corporate member GoldenCare for tipping us to
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“What’s better for senior living and care — the market or government?,” by Stephen A. Moses, McKnight’s Senior Living Quote: “The senior living and care business encompasses a wide range of services, including independent living, assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing and home care (including home care provided in the aforementioned settings). Private-market forces prevail in independent living and, somewhat less so but predominantly, in assisted living. Government funding and regulation prevail in home care, skilled nursing and, less so but significantly, in assisted living. By most measures, the more market-based independent and assisted living sectors fare better economically over
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“3 States Limit Nursing Home Profits in Bid to Improve Care,” by Susan Jaffe, Kaiser Health News Quote: “‘If they’re not able to pull so much money away from care and spend it on staffing and actual services, it should make a big difference,’ said Charlene Harrington, professor emeritus at the University of California-San Francisco’s School of Nursing who has spent four decades studying nursing home reimbursement and regulation. ‘I would expect the quality of care would improve substantially.’ ‘The actual effect will be just the opposite,’ said Andrew Aronson, president and CEO of the Health Care Association of New
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“So far, more than 200,000 apply for exemption from the state’s long-term-care fund,” by Elizabeth Hovde, Washington Policy Center Quote: “Exemption Statistics as of Oct. 21, 2021 Total exemption applications received: 227,402 Approved applications: 61,785 Incomplete applications: 624 Total applications processed: 62,409 Applications processed as percentage of total: 27.4% “We continue to urge lawmakers to repeal this flawed long-term-care law in the next legislative session. Amendments and delays can’t fix the WA Cares Fund, especially since lawmakers have disrupted the insurance market the way that they have. And it is clear people don’t want this law: It is not patient-centered and its payroll tax burdens household budgets.” LTC Comment, Stephen A.
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“‘Fairly large contingent’ of National Guard will alleviate ‘healthcare backups’ at long-term care facilities,” by Kathleen Steele Galvin, McKnight’s Senior Living   Quote: “‘A fairly large contingent’ of the National Guard will be enlisted to help with a statewide long-term care worker shortage that is hampering hospitals’ ability to transfer people with COVID-19 patients to post-acute facilities, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) announced Friday at a press conference. The soldiers will receive training to work in long-term care settings, he said.” LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: Think maybe the caregiver shortage is getting serious?    
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