“LTC Costs Continue to Rise in 2018, but Some Buyers See a Drop,” by Melanie Waddell, ThinkAdvisor “While long-term care insurance costs increased slightly in 2017, some coverage can be less expensive depending on the insurer, according to new data from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. The 2018 Long-Term Care Insurance Price Index, an annual compendium of pricing prepared by the AALTCI, found that some costs have actually declined since a year ago.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Onward and upward. LTC Costs Continue to Rise in 2018, but Some Buyers
Read More

“CMS Mulls Ways to Address Improper Skilled Nursing Discharges,” by Tim Regan, Skilled Nursing News “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced a new initiative aimed at blunting the growing trend of improper discharges at skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Across the country, the illegal ‘dumping,’ or eviction, of SNF residents has become a widespread issue—so much so that it’s now one of the most frequent complaints made to states’ long-term care ombudsman programs, CMS said in a Dec. 22 memo addressed to state survey agency directors.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):
Read More

“To Help Others, One Couple Talks About Life With Early-Onset Alzheimer’s,” by Brian Mann, National Public Radio “Researchers say as many as 200,000 Americans experience Alzheimer’s younger than the typical age of 65, developing dementia-like symptoms in their 40s and 50s. . . . The Doolittles launched a podcast together called Alzheimer’s Chronicles. In their first broadcast in November, Will laid out the challenges that younger families experience with Alzheimer’s.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): I wonder how many young people and families will think about LTCI having read this article or heard
Read More

“Why Tax Hospitals? It’s a Medicaid Shell Game,” by Red Jahncke, Wall Street Journal “Taxing hospitals sounds strange, especially since most are nonprofits. It also would seem to increase their costs and, thus, the cost of care—much of which, thanks to Medicaid, is borne by the state that levies the tax. Yet 42 states tax hospitals. Why? One answer is the perverse incentives built into the Medicaid law. When a state returns tax money to hospitals through Medicaid ‘supplemental payments,’ it qualifies for matching funds from Washington. . . . No wonder taxes on medical providers have both risen and
Read More

“Rising Number Of Older Americans Carrying Debt Into Retirement,” by Jadah Riley, Financial Advisor “Between 2003 and 2015, debt among borrowers between the ages of 50 and 80 increased by roughly 60 percent, according to a 2016 study by the New York Federal Consumer Credit Panel. Student debt among retirement aged borrowers 65 and older swelled 385 percent between 2005 and 2015, while overall debt levels for the age group spiked from 2 billion to 22 billion in roughly the same time period, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term
Read More