“Must-Know Statistics About Long-Term Care: 2019 Edition,” by Christine Benz, Morningstar “To help you arrive at a plan for how you’ll manage your own long-term care costs, I’ve assembled a now-annual compendium of statistics on long-term care. How likely are you to need long-term care and for how long? What does long-term care cost, and what does it cost to insure against it? Who’s providing care, and what toll is that taking on the caregivers?” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Useful reminder.
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“Free Long-Term Care for All?,” by Romeo Raabe, ThinkAdvisor “Last week, Joanne Lynn, M.D, a noted geriatrician, warned members of Congress that enormous misery is coming. It will come within the next 10 years, if the country fails to improve support programs for the elderly. Many baby boomers believe that long-term care is free of charge from the government and have failed to plan for it. Most have completely ignored this topic, as it is not fun to think about or discuss. … If those who could pay for their care did (or frugally bought LTC insurance), there would be
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“State Faces $6.1 Billion Deficit Amid Medicaid Woes,” by Nick Reisman, Spectrum News “Added expenses for the state’s health care program for the poor has contributed to a $6.1 billion budget gap, according to a mid-year update released on Friday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget office. The report, released weeks after legally mandated deadline was blown, points to increases in the minimum wage, a phase out of added funding by the federal government and an increase in enrollment and costs for managed long-term care and payments to cash-distressed hospitals.”   LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term
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OK Boomer,” Wikipedia OK Boomer’ is a catchphrase and internet meme that gained popularity among younger cohorts throughout 2019, used to dismiss or mock attitudes stereotypically attributed to the baby boomer generation.”   LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): The phrase “OK Boomer” is all over the media lately. Here’s what it means. Perhaps the long-predicted generational conflict is finally taking hold.
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“Opinion: How far off are the actuarial adjustments of Social Security benefits?,” by Alicia H. Munnell,  “The stylized fact that high earners live longer and claim later adds a distributional consideration to these findings. At the simplest level — taking the adjustments as given — low earners claim early and are overcharged for that privilege, and high earners claim later and are rewarded roughly correctly. The simple results, however, substantially understate the advantages for high earners. The evaluation of the adjustments presented above was based on the life expectancy of the average worker. If the assessment had been based on the
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“Improper Medicaid payments exceed $57 billion for fiscal year, CMS says,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living   “Improper Medicaid payments for fiscal year 2019 are estimated at $57.36 billion, a 14.9% rate, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Monday. The amount is an increase from $36.2 billion in fiscal year 2018 (a 9.79% rate), but CMS said data for the two years are not comparable due to changes in the way the agency calculates the measurements. Improper payments now are calculated using the Payment Error Rate Measurement, or PERM, program, which was ‘paused’ from FY 2014
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“Memory care approach cuts antipsychotic med use in more than 50% of residents: study,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living “A person-centered approach to memory care led to the reduced or discontinued use of off-label antipsychotic medications in more than half of the residents of 53 long-term care communities, including assisted living communities, who participated in a study, the results of which were announced last week. The study was conducted in the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. … Forty percent of assisted living residents in the United States are living with dementia, according to the
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“Dementia care planning benefit largely untapped: testimony,” by Alicia Lasek, McKnight’s LTC News “Dementia care planning can reduce emergency room visits and hospitalizations while improving medication management. But relatively few clinicians are aware of Medicare’s care planning benefit, said Robert Egge, chief public policy officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, during recent testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee. In 2017, the first year the benefit was available, fewer than 1% of those living with cognitive impairment received care planning, according to a recent study.”   LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): The more Medicare
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“Welcome to ‘Unretirement’: Most Older Americans Say They’ll Keep Working,” by Bernice Napach, ThinkAdvisor   Quote: “A new Harris Poll conducted on behalf of TD Ameritrade finds that a solid majority of Americans age 40 and older plan to continue working after retiring. And of those who intend to keep working, most plan to work their entire lives.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): How ironic! We used to have to work until we dropped unless we took personal responsibility to save, invest or insure for a secure old age. Then the government insisted
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“Three Ways to Protect Yourself from the Cost of Nursing Home Care,” by Jeffrey Marshall, Marshall, Parker & Weber, LLC “This article will discuss three techniques that elder law attorneys use to help families protect themselves against the financial cost of long-term care once the need for that care has arisen. These strategies are just part of the planning arsenal that is available. They can be used in a time of crisis. But, of course, it is best to plan early, rather than wait for a crisis to happen. … Using assets to pay off debts and expenses … Buying
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