“Improper Medicaid Payments Have Soared since Obamacare,” by Brian Blase and Hayden Dublois, National Review   Quote: “The true Medicaid improper-payment rate now exceeds 25 percent, meaning that more than one in every four dollars spent in the Medicaid program — or more than $100 billion in federal spending each year — is in violation of program rules. It turns out that millions of Medicaid enrollees are ineligible for the program — in most cases because they earn too much income, but in others because they are not lawful residents. The media, to date, have virtually ignored the issue; but taxpayers
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  “‘We can no longer ignore this’: Affordable long-term care is urgent priority, panelists say,” by Kimberly Bonvissuto, McKnight’s Senior Living      Quote: “Nora Super, senior director of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging and executive director of the Milken Institute Alliance to Improve Dementia Care, said the group narrowed those solutions down to three big ideas: A large-scale Medicare Advantage demonstration project to test the effectiveness of technology and home-based interventions in reducing cost and improving care across the continuum. Scaling up and adapting integrated care models to provide flexible, low-cost, high-value services for targeted
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“Making Care Work Pay: How A Living Wage For LTSS Workers Benefits All,” by Christian Weller, Beth Almeida, Marc A. Cohen, Robyn I. Stone, Health Affairs   Quote: “LTSS staffing shortages stem largely from the fact that our nation undervalues the 3.5 million nursing assistants, personal care aides, and home health aides who go to work each day in residential care settings and private homes across the country. Despite their valuable work, one in eight direct care workers lives in poverty, and three-quarters earn less than the average living wage in their states.” LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term
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-t “Americans Worry More Now About Their Long-Term Care Plans and Prioritize Staying At Home,” by Nationwide Retirement Institute, Advisor Magazine   Quote: “The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Americans mentally, physically, and financially, and as such, has caused many to reexamine the importance of prioritizing long-term care. The vast majority of Americans (87%) believe it’s more important than ever for people to stay at home for long-term care, as well as have a plan for long-term care (85%) and have long-term care insurance (81%) as COVID-19 has raised concerns about the safety of nursing homes.” Help your clients make smart decisions
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-t “HC2 Gets Offer for Long-Term Care Insurance Business,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor   Quote: “Michael Gorzynski — an investor who owns a 6.6% stake in HC2 Holdings Inc., has a seat on the HC2 board and who serves as the chairman of HC2′s Continental General Insurance Company unit — is trying to acquire the Continental insurance business from HC2. … Although Continental has blocks of life and annuity business as well as blocks of LTCI business, it’s best known for its LTCI business, because it has been one of the few companies making deals for blocks of LTCI business.”
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“The Coming Crisis For The Medicare Trust Fund,” by David Muhlestein, Health Affairs   Quote: “The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) now projects that the trust fund will be exhausted in 2024, a little more than three years from now, which is the nearest the fund has come to exhaustion in the 55 years of its existence. … If the trust fund is exhausted, no law dictates what will happen, but the Social Security Act (which governs Medicare) does not authorize the government to use general revenues to fund the deficit, so Medicare will only be able to make payments based on money it
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  “Medicare Advantage Beneficiaries Log Almost 30% Fewer SNF Days Than Traditional Medicare,” by Maggie Flynn, Skilled Nursing News     Quote: “A new report comparing health outcomes for beneficiaries of Medicare Advantage (MA) and those on traditional fee-for-service Medicare put hard numbers to the differences in skilled nursing facility stays between the two groups. The findings show that MA beneficiaries spend far fewer days in SNFs than those covered by traditional Medicare. Specifically, SNF stays were 29% lower per 1,000 MA members, compared with those enrolled in traditional fee-for-service Medicare. … BMA is an organization that supports MA with
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  “GE Puts SEC Long-Term Care Insurance Probe Behind It,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor      Quote: “General Electric Company is moving to resolve a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation over what the company did with bad news. GE has agreed to pay a $200 million penalty to the SEC and to give the agency regular reports, for one year, on efforts to improve accounting and disclosure controls, officials said. The investigation involved what GE said about earnings at its GE Power business, and how the company handled deteriorating forecasts about the future performance of its long-term care insurance (LTCI) reinsurance
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  “Measuring The New Costs Of Care: How the pandemic is exacerbating the already rising price-points of long-term-care,” Advisor Magazine   Quote: “In its 17th annual Cost Of Care survey, Genworth reveals rising costs in most areas of care. Access the full report here. … Despite the efforts of long term care providers to absorb many of the costs associated with COVID-19 as they put their own lives at risk to care for their clients, long term care costs increased substantially this year, particularly for assisted living facilities and in-home care, according to Genworth’s 17th annual Cost of Care Survey. … In
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  “More than 6 in 10 Americans now say they would rather die than live in nursing home: survey,” by Amy Novotney, McKnight’s Senior Living     Quote: “In a blow to the skilled nursing industry, 61% of Americans now report that they would rather die than live in a nursing home. That’s according to a Nationwide Retirement Institute survey of almost 1,300 U.S. adults aged 24 or more years conducted by the Harris Poll. … ‘Our survey found that Americans prefer to stay in their home for long-term care (71%), and most would like to have the option of relying
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