-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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