“Meet the New Medicare Card,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “Medicare program managers are preparing to begin a massive health insurance card conversion in April. The program will start mailing new identification cards to Medicare enrollees, in an effort to get Social Security numbers off the cards, to give the enrollees a little extra protection against identity theft.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Click through to this article and see the new Medicare identification card CMS is planning. The redesigned, easy-to-remember ID number should roll right off your tongue about has smoothly as airline
Read More

“Americans Face a Rising Risk of Dying Alone,” by Ben Steverman, Bloomberg “Loneliness kills. Life without friends and family is not just dreary but difficult, especially as we get older. Strong social relationships boost a person’s chances of staying alive by 50 percent, according to a comprehensive 2010 review of 148 studies that followed 309,000 people for an average of 7.5 years. That’s about the same improvement to mortality as the one that comes from quitting smoking. It’s hard to say whether Americans are lonelier now than in the past. But they’re certainly more independent than ever. Almost half of U.S. adults are now
Read More

“Why Your 50s Are a Good Time to Begin Thinking About Long-Term Care,” by Geoff Williams, U.S. News & World Report “Sure, it seems crazy to start thinking about a possible future when you’re infirmed and need long-term health care if you’re only in your 50s. You’re young, or relatively young, and healthy. But that’s the point. You don’t want to someday be unable to take care of yourself and wish that you had done some pre-planning. If you’re in your 50s, and you’re not thinking about long-term care, these are some reasons you should be considering it.” LTC Comment
Read More

“What if the ‘retirement crisis’ has been exaggerated?,” by Dana Anspach, MarketWatch “To take a closer look at how real people make retirement work, The Society of Actuaries (SOA) has conducted a series of studies, the latest of which is their Post-Retirement Experiences of Individuals 85+ Years Old in which they conducted 62 in-depth interviews of individuals across both the U.S. and Canada. The people interviewed were not wealthy and had done little to no financial planning but overwhelmingly disclosed they had adapted to their situation and had surprisingly few regrets. What? No crisis? How could this be?” LTC Comment
Read More

“Future residents may be sicker than current ones, study suggests,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living “Future [long-term care] residents may be moving in sicker than current ones, suggests a new study. Members of the pre-retirement generation already have more health issues and health-related limits on their lives than previous generations did when they were in their late 50s, according to research published in Health Affairs. . . . Using data from long-term health studies and funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the researchers found that those who are in the age group that has to wait until
Read More

“High Blood Pressure in Early Midlife Associated With Later Dementia Risk,” by Kate Kneisel, MedPageToday “Having or developing high blood pressure at midlife was associated with an increased risk for dementia later in life in women but not in men, researchers found.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): How sexist of those researchers, or, well, of nature. High Blood Pressure in Early Midlife Associated With Later Dementia Risk #goldencareagent #dementia
Read More

“Medicare Advantage Plan Count Rises 10%,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “A comparison of the file for 2018 with a similar file for 2017 shows that: The total number of plans will increase 10% next year, to 38,110. The number of plans with no monthly out-of-pocket premium payments for the enrollees increased to 11,933 for 2018, up 22% from the 2017 zero-premium plan count. The cost of the median 2018 plan is $43 per month. That’s for a local preferred provider organization plan in Jefferson County, West Virginia, with a $6,700 annual out-of-pocket maximum.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President,
Read More

“Should your RRSP pay for long-term care insurance?,” by Alexandra MacQueen, The Globe and Mail “Allow Canadians to withdraw funds from their registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) and registered retirement income funds (RRIFs) on a tax-deferred basis to purchase long-term care insurance policies. That’s the proposal put forward by CALU, the Conference for Advanced Life Underwriting, a national membership association for established insurance, tax, financial, accounting and actuarial professionals, as part of the standing committee on finance 2018 pre-budget consultations.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): A good idea for the U.S. to consider
Read More