“Poll: Most Older Adults Wary of Telemedicine,” Futurity “Of those surveyed, only 4% had had a video-based telehealth visit with a doctor via smartphone or computer in the past year. They had mixed reactions. Meanwhile, more than half of all those polled didn’t even know if their health providers offer telehealth visits at all. More than 80% of older adults polled expressed at least one concern about seeing a doctor or other provider virtually rather than in person. And 47% worried about getting the technology to work. But more than half said they’d be willing to try telehealth in some
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“States Focus on Rise of Elderly Populations,” by Andrew Soergel, U.S. News & World Report “U.S. News put together the Best States for Aging ranking to take a closer look at how states are grappling with the ongoing demographic shift.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Click through for details. The results may surprise you.    
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“8 in 10 Older Americans Believe They Are Prepared to Age Well, But Need Help Understanding Their Benefits and Navigating the Health Care System,” by Anthem, BusinessWire “A majority of older Americans (ages 60+) (79%) are prepared to age well, but nearly 7 in 10 (68%) are at least somewhat concerned about their health as they age, and nearly half (46%) need help understanding their health insurance benefits once they have chosen a plan. A survey conducted by The Harris Poll, commissioned by Anthem, Inc. and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a), reveals that while most respondents are confident
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“State of Long-Term Care Insurance,” by Moody’s, Advisor Magazine “As insurers undertake LTC actuarial assumption reviews in 2019, we believe those with outdated and less defendable assumptions will likely make adjustments to align with evolving industry experience and longer-term investment return assumptions, potentially leading to a decline in GAAP margins. Those insurers with insufficient or depleted margins would need to take earnings charges. As we have indicated previously, a small change in actuarial assumptions can significantly impact margins, and ultimately reserves, for a long- duration product such as LTC.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):
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“Difference between Medicare, and Medicaid for nursing home costs,” by Bonnie Kraham, Times Herald-Record “If a loved one needs a stay in a skilled nursing home facility, either for a short time or for life, Medicare or Medicaid may be available to pay for the care. Medicare is for the short stay and Medicaid is for the long term. …In New York, it is never too late to save assets from nursing home costs. If a married couple has too many assets to qualify for Medicaid in a nursing home, the law of spousal refusal allows the spouse at home
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“The High Cost of Long-Term Care Insurance (and What to Use Instead),” by Maryalene LaPonsie, U.S. News and World Report “Long-term care insurers have made significant changes in how they issue and price their plans. ‘They’ve fixed their pricing. They’ve fixed their underwriting,’ says Noel Evans, a long-term care insurance specialist in the District of Columbia. Now that companies have decades of claims data to base their underwriting, premiums should become less volatile in the future. Still, if you find yourself priced out of the market or ineligible for health reasons, there are other options to pay for long-term care, ranging
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“Protect Your Family From Taxes And Long-Term Care Costs,” by Christopher Berry, Forbes “The first step for protection can be to create an asset protection trust, which, once funded, can protect against the cost of nursing home care. The way it works is that once assets are moved into the asset protection trust, it starts a five-year race, after which time everything inside of the trust is protected from the costs of nursing home care, which can run upwards of $8,000 per month. Medicaid can help pay for the cost of long-term care; however, Medicaid looks back five years.” LTC Comment
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“The 2020 Medicare Advantage Plan Atlas, for Agents,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “Medicare program managers at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have just flooded the CMS website with two giant, computer-crashing files of 2020 Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D plan data. The files show how much each insurer’s plans will cost in each county, and they give some hints about what the benefits will be like. The total number of plan entries has increased 18% this year, to about 58,000. The database includes all sorts of specialized plans and subsidized plans that might not be the typical
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“Tickle me, Earmo,” by Gary Tetz, McKnight’s LTC News “’EAR ‘TICKLING’ MAY SLOW EFFECT OF AGING ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM’: As I read this, my overactive imagination conjured up a therapy situation involving a pink feather boa, seductively administered by a velvet-voiced supermodel into my auditory canal. Oh, and it would also make me live forever and is reimbursable under PDPM [Patient Directed Payment Model, the radical new reimbursement system about to be imposed on providers by CMS]. But the photo that ran with the article communicated something entirely different. It was just a guy with electrodes clipped to his
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“Private Medicare Plans’ Premium Rates Hit 13 Year Low,” by Tony Pugh, Bloomberg Law “Seniors can expect more plan choices and lower rates next month when they enroll in one of the private health plans that provide Medicare benefits. Monthly premiums for Medicare Advantage plans will be, on average, the lowest in 13 years, and down 23% from 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced on Sept. 24. Together with a 13.5% decline in the average monthly basic premium for Medicare prescription drug coverage, beneficiaries have saved about $2.65 billion in premium costs since 2017, CMS estimates.” LTC Comment (from
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