“State Regulators Post LTC Insurance Rate Review Draft,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor Quote: “The Long-Term Care Insurance Task Force is asking for public comments on a proposal that could help states join together to provide faster, more consistent reviews of insurers requests for increases in long-term care insurance (LTCI) premiums. The task force — an arm of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners — has posted a draft of a Long-Term Care Insurance Multi-State Rate Review Framework.” LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: Seems like this has been a long time coming. Let’s hope it helps. Inconsistent
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“42% of older adults have unmet need for assistive bathing, toileting devices,” by Madison Weller, Healio “A nationally representative cohort study estimated that 5 million older adults in the U.S. who have difficulty performing self-care tasks or are at risk for falls lack access to grab bars, shower seats and other assistive devices.” LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: If Medicaid hadn’t choked off worry about oncoming LTC need and cost by providing subsidized nursing home care when people can no longer cope, families and individuals would have planned, saved, invested and insured with this
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“Genworth Ends China Oceanwide Merger Agreement,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “Genworth Financial Inc. announced Tuesday that it has officially ended efforts to be acquired by China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co. Ltd. … In January, the companies shifted to using a merger agreement with no expiration date. Genworth said it has decided to end the merger agreement, rather than sticking with the open-ended agreement, to simplify efforts to carry out the company’s strategic plan. Part of the plan involves selling a stake in a large mortgage insurance subsidiary to investors, through a partial initial public offering.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses,
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 “Diane Archer on the Medicare Advantage Racket,” by Editor, Corporate Crime Reporter “In September 2018, a government report was released and was largely ignored by the mainstream press. The report from the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seductively titled – Medicare Advantage Appeal Outcomes and Audit Findings Raise Concerns About Service and Payment Denials – found that Medicare Advantage regularly denies claims and that when patients appeal those denials, the Medicare Advantage plan reversed three-quarters of their own denials. The numbers were troubling because of the infrequency with which patients and providers used the appeals process
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“The Nursing Home Vulnerabilities That Led to Disaster,” by Emily Gurnon, Next Avenue “The pandemic has exacerbated and raised awareness about the poor conditions in many nursing homes nationwide. But those conditions existed before COVID-19 hit the U.S., and they are likely to continue unless changes are made, experts say. … What set nursing homes up to fail so dramatically during the pandemic? Experts point to five main factors.”   LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: All five of those factors play a role, but note this. Nothing in this article, nor in most of the
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“Reverse Mortgages: 10 Things You Must Know,” by Jackie Stewart, Rachel L. Sheedy, the Editors of Kiplinger’s Retirement Report, March 26, 2021, Kiplinger   “Get a large wad of cash! Never make a mortgage payment again! Stay in your home as long as you want! Sounds like a great deal, right? Well, for some older homeowners, a reverse mortgage can be. For others, it’s more perilous than promising. If you’re considering a reverse mortgage, there’s a lot you need to know before signing on the dotted line. … If the person suggests investing the funds in certain financial products, such as long-term care
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“Cutting Medicaid and SNAP Red Tape During the Pandemic,” by Suzanne Wikle, CLASP   “Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) passed in March 2020, states were given additional federal dollars for Medicaid. But in exchange, they had to commit to not cutting people off Medicaid (with few exceptions for voluntary disenrollment, a move out of state, and death) for the duration of the Covid-19  public health emergency. March 18 marked the one-year anniversary of this provision, known as the Medicaid maintenance of effort (MOE) requirement. States were also provided several administrative flexibilities, such as increasing the use of presumptive eligibility and self-attestation.” LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: This pro-MOE
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“How To Walk the Medicare Advantage Communications Tightrope,” by John Krahnert III, ThinkAdvisor “If you’ve worked in the Medicare Advantage space, you probably know that finding the right balance between compelling and compliant marketing content is like walking a tightrope. If you lean too far in the direction of ‘compelling,’ you could fall off into the abyss of the CMS’ Medicare Communications & Marketing Guidelines (MCMG) and find yourself in some hot water. If you lean too far in the direction of ‘compliant,’ you could find yourself in the black hole of painfully boring copy that makes your customers’ dishwasher
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“The Nation’s Fiscal Health: After Pandemic Recovery, Focus Needed on Achieving Long-Term Fiscal Sustainability,” Government Accountability Office “Congress and the administration have responded in an unprecedented manner to address the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting severe economic repercussions. Since March 2020, pandemic response has cost trillions of federal dollars. Until the country better contains the virus, the pandemic will likely remain a significant obstacle to more robust economic activity. After the pandemic recedes and the economy substantially recovers, Congress and the administration should quickly pivot to developing an approach to place the government on a sustainable long-term fiscal path. In fiscal
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