“Missed Vaccines, Skipped Colonoscopies: Preventive Care Plummets,” by Sarah Kliff, New York Times Quote: “When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Americans vastly scaled back their preventive health care, and there is little sign that this deferred care will be made up. Vaccinations dropped by nearly 60 percent in April, and almost no one was getting a colonoscopy, according to new data from the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute. … Americans continued seeking care they couldn’t avoid — hospital admissions for childbirth, for example, held steady — but skipped care they could put off. More invasive preventive procedures, such as mammograms and
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“Ken Dychtwald: 75% of Households Could Face a Big Retirement Shock,” by Jane Wollman Rusoff, ThinkAdvisor Quote: “Given the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, there’s a chance that in retirement, only 25% of all U.S. working households will be able to maintain their current standard of living unless they work longer, move to lower-cost housing and reduce many other expenditures, argues Ken Dychtwald, co-founder and CEO of Age Wave, in an interview with ThinkAdvisor. … A very small percentage of the American population has an employer paying for a pension, and savings rates have been scary low. We did a
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“Ethics Consult: Keep Patient on Feeding Tube After Dementia Diagnosis?— You make the call,” MedPageToday Quote: “A woman in her late 70s has been using a feeding tube successfully for the past year after a stroke. Her family noticed a decline in her cognitive abilities, and the patient was diagnosed with dementia. Her family is worried about long-term care but is willing to do what the doctor says regarding the feeding tube. … Is it ethical to keep this patient on a feeding tube?”     LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): This column
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“CBO Cuts Forecast for Social Security Fund Life Span, Sees Debt Topping GDP in 2021,” by Bernice Napach, ThinkAdvisor Quote: “The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that the Social Security Trust Fund for seniors will be depleted in 2031, three years earlier than the fund’s trustees had projected in May and one year earlier than the CBO had projected last year. After funds are depleted, benefits will continue because they are also financed by payroll taxes, but they will decline unless changes are implemented to build up the trust fund’s reserves. The CBO is also projecting that Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust
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“China Oceanwide Is ‘Progressing Well’ Toward Getting Deal Funding: Genworth,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor Quote: “Genworth Financial said Monday that it’s going to keep moving forward with efforts to be acquired by China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co. Ltd., because it believes China Oceanwide has provided satisfactory information about its deal funding efforts.”     LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): The saga continues.    
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“Why you need to talk to your parents about how they want to die,” by Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon   Quote: “It wasn’t easy when I found myself without any guideposts or preparation for handling my mother’s care, but it wasn’t a surprise either. We had been estranged for several years beforehand, so when I got the call at last this summer, it was merely the crap tornado I’d been long bracing for. My sole comfort in all of it was the knowledge we’d have no such messiness when it came to my mother-in-law. It turned out I was wrong.”     LTC
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“Bonnie Kraham column: 2020 rates for Community Medicaid and Nursing Home Medicaid,” by Bonnie Kraham,RecordOnline Quote: “The Medicaid Asset Protection Trust protects assets from nursing home costs and home care after the assets are in the trust for the required amount of time. Despite strict Medicaid rules, it is almost never too late to save money from long-term care costs using spousal refusal for married couples or the gift and loan strategy that may save half of a single person’s assets. Consulting an elder law attorney when faced with a Medicaid application is essential.”     LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses,
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