“Insurers Try to Avoid Collision With State LTCI Program,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor Quote:  “Private insurers are deciding to opt out of dancing with Washington state’s new WA Cares Fund universal long-term care (LTC) benefits program. The carriers say they want to make sure Washington state residents aren’t simply buying private coverage to avoid paying a new 0.58% payroll tax that’s supposed to cover the cost of the public LTC benefits program. The new tax is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2022. Residents can opt out of the public program, and the tax, if they can show they have had private
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“Comparing Medicare Advantage And Traditional Medicare: A Systematic Review,” by Rajender Agarwal, John Connolly, Shweta Gupta, and Amol S. Navathe, Health Affairs Quote:  “Medicare Advantage enrollment has almost doubled since 2010 and now accounts for more than a third of all Medicare beneficiaries. We performed a systematic review to compare Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare on key metrics. Evidence from forty-eight studies showed that in most or all comparisons, Medicare Advantage was associated with more preventive care visits, fewer hospital admissions and emergency department visits, shorter hospital and skilled nursing facility lengths-of-stay, and lower health care spending. Medicare Advantage outperformed
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“Planning For The Peak-65 Generation,” by Jason Fichtner, Advisor Magazine Quote:  “The greatest surge of new retirees in the nation’s history is fast approaching. In a mere three years, the U.S. will have more 65-year-olds than ever before, with more than 10,000 people turning 65 every day, a number that will increase to more than 12,000 a day until the nation reaches its ‘Peak 65’ moment in 2024.  And by 2030, 20 percent of the U.S. population will be age 65 or older, reaching the traditional age associated with retirement as our nation’s retirement system is at risk like never
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“Controversial Alzheimer’s Drug Wins FDA Approval,” by Judy George, MedPageToday Quote:  “The controversial Alzheimer’s treatment aducanumab (Aduhelm) won FDA approval Monday using the accelerated approval pathway. Under this pathway, the agency approves a drug for a serious or life-threatening illness that may provide meaningful therapeutic benefit over existing treatments when the drug is shown to have an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict a clinical benefit to patients and there remains some uncertainty about the drug’s clinical benefit.” LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: Kind of a stretch.        
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“Profile of Older Americans,” Administration for Community Living Quote:  “The Profile of Older Americans is an annual summary of critical statistics related to the older population in the United States. Relying primarily on data offered by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Profile illustrates the shifting demographics of Americans age 65 and older. It includes key topic areas such as income, living arrangements, education, health, and caregiving. The 2020 Profile includes special sections on COVID-19 and mental health.” LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:  Click through for the latest Profile and links to each annual profile from
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“Medicare Advantage Dual Eligibles Have Better Access to Care,” by Kelsey Waddill, HealthPayerIntelligence Quote:  “Medicare Advantage dual eligibles reported better access to care and access to telehealth during the coronavirus pandemic than traditional Medicare beneficiaries did, a report from NORC at the University of Chicago found. … Dual eligibles who were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans and also received coverage through Medicaid tended to be higher risk than beneficiaries who were enrolled in traditional Medicare: they were older, faced more chronic conditions, and were more likely to identify as part of the Black or Hispanic communities.” LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses,
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“Anne Tumlinson, CEO, ATI Advisory,”Aging Media Quote:  “If there was one thing I could change, either everybody would just have private insurance for this, or we would be in some kind of a social insurance model [to cover that] huge gap. That’s important, but it’s not enough. We also have to have this infra-structure because even [having] the money to pay for services is not enough, if you’re having to set up and manage basically a mini health and aging services system in your home all by yourself. We’re not going to be using those dollars very intelligently if we
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“Washington State Cares Fund Update,” NGL Quote:  “The state of Washington recently passed the Washington Cares Fund with the intention of creating a limited benefit for long term care services. W2 employees will be directly impacted through a new payroll tax that takes effect on January 1, 2022. The state has allowed for an opt-out provision for employees who can attest to having an LTCi policy in force prior to November 1, 2021. … We believe it’s very important to approach LTC planning in a responsible manner with the primary objective of protecting a family’s estate and legacy. It is
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“Semiprivate Nursing Home Room Cost Rises 9.2%: Mutual of Omaha,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor Quote:  “COVID-19 may have increased the average cost of some types of long-term care in the United States in 2020 and cut the cost of other types LTC care. Mutual of Omaha has given data supporting that assessment in a new cost-of-care report, based on data from LTCG. LTCI Partners, a long-term care insurance (LTCI) distributor, has posted a copy of the report on its website. The new survey report, based on figures collected in 2020, shows that cost trends for different types of LTC services varied
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