“A Legacy on the Land: For Donna Lien, protecting a cherished family property meant rethinking later-life finances,” by Denise Logeland, Thrivent Magazine “‘I love working with Donna,’ Bartz says. Even though they have a 25-year advisory relationship, ‘Donna always challenges me with questions, like how can I protect my estate from income taxes and what happens if I go into a nursing home or have a long-term illness? Am I protected from that?’ … Because the [irrevocable life insurance] trust [recommended by the Thrivent Financial professional] owns the life insurance … it is protected in the event she has big medical or
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“Should genetic test results be used to determine insurance coverage? Debate is on,” by Elizabeth Koh, Miami Herald “As interest in commercially available genetic testing kits continues to rise, Florida senators are considering a proposal that would ban genetic test results from being used to deny or limit someone’s life, disability or long-term care insurance coverage. But the bill, which narrowly passed its first state Senate committee stop Monday, faces an uphill climb as some lawmakers and insurance lobbyists say the potential ban would hurt the industry’s ability to anticipate and calculate future risk.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses,
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“More Consumers Are Counting on Help From LTCI: Bankers Life Arm,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “Insurers may be retreating from the U.S. private long-term care insurance (LTCI) market, but more older Americans are hoping LTCI will help them cover long-term care costs. The percentage of older, middle-income Americans who expect to use LTCI coverage to pay for long-term care has increased to 17% this year, from 13%, according to new survey data from a research arm of Bankers Life and Casualty Company. Hope that LTCI coverage will pay the bills has increased even though only 12% of the survey participants said
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“NAIC Developing Executive-Level Committee to Harmonize LTCI Rates,” by Elizabeth Festa, ThinkAdvisor “The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is developing a new executive-level committee that will try to harmonize long-term care rate increases across states, according to remarks from Eric Cioppa, NAIC president and Maine superintendent of insurance. … The committee would try to establish a uniform practice for granting rate increases to LTCI blocks. Issuers of the policies in the blocks say they are struggling to take in enough premiums to support the costs of paying the policy benefits.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care
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“Wi-Fi Joins Location, Price as Top Housing Concern for Seniors,” by Chuck Sudo, Senior Housing News “Seniors entering independent living and assisted living communities no longer expect Wi-Fi to be merely an option in their everyday lives — it must be part of a facility’s basic offerings. And the quality of a community’s Wi-Fi network can be the difference between a first look and a move-in.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): The times they are a-changin’.
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“Could Alzheimer’s Be a Reaction to Infection,” by Kenneth Shinozuka and Dhruva Gupta on March 13, 2019, Scientific American “Last year, a study involving over 34,000 Taiwanese patients found that people who were infected with HSV-1 were 2.56 times more likely to get dementia, but that undergoing treatment for HSV-1 lowered their risk of Alzheimer’s by over 80 percent. Perhaps if researchers seriously consider the role of pathogens and examine their interactions with amyloid beta as well as the role of blood-brain barrier more carefully, then we will finally be able to overcome our current impasse in finding a cure.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A.
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“Genworth move could signal big shift in distribution of long-term-care insurance,” by Greg Iacurci, “Genworth Financial Inc.‘s recent decision to halt sales of individual long-term-care insurance policies through brokers and agents and just go directly to consumers could represent an emerging trend among insurers. … If more insurers turn to direct-to-consumer sales, brokers would find themselves cut out of transactions. The National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies said it was ‘deeply concerned about [Genworth’s] course of action.’ Genworth officials said the suspension, which is indefinite, is primarily due to the company’s low credit ratings, which advisers use to assess the
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“Heart Attacks Fall One-Third Among Older Americans,” by Steven Reinberg, “The study of more than 4 million Medicare patients found that hospitalizations for heart attacks dropped 38 percent between 1995 and 2014. At the same time, deaths within 30 days of a heart attack reached an all-time low of 12 percent, down more than one-third since 1995.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Less heart disease = More Alzheimer’s.
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“Many baby boomers willing to receive long-term care outside the home, LeadingAge poll finds,” by Marty Stempniak, McKnight’s LTC News “Baby boomers may be more willing to receive long-term care outside the home than was commonly believed, according to a LeadingAge poll released Monday. Up to 40% of respondents would want to live somewhere other than their current home or apartment if they had a physical disability that required them to need help with daily activities, the survey found. About 14% of the respondents indicated they would move to a place that is staffed to provide healthcare should the need for
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